P 483 
.K15 
Copy 1 




JAMES OTIS 




/ 




Qass r' AE^ 

Book lKJA 



Gm^A^it 



CPRfRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Benjamin of Ohio 



A Story of the Settlement of Marietta 



BY 



JAMES OTIS l^(xh^ 




NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 






Copyright, 1912, by 
JAMES OTIS KALEE. 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO. 
W. P. I 



©CI.A327757 



FOREWORD 

The author of this series of stories for children 
has endeavored simply to show why and how the 
descendants of the early colonists fought their way 
through the wilderness in search of new homes. The 
several narratives deal with the struggles of those 
adventurous people who forced their way westward, 
ever westward, whether in hope of gain or in answer 
to " the call of the wild,'' and who, in so doing, 
wrote their names with their blood across this 
country of ours from the Ohio to the Columbia. 

To excite in the hearts of the young people of 
this land a desire to know more regarding the build- 
ing up of this great nation, and at the same time 
to entertain in such a manner as may stimulate to 
noble deeds, is the real aim of these stories. In them 
there is nothing of romance, but only a careful, 
truthful record of the part played by children in 
the great battles with those forces, human as well 
as natural, which, for so long a time, held a vast 



4 FOREWORD 

portion of this broad land against the advance of 
home seekers. 

With the knowledge of what has been done by 
our own people in our own land, surely there is 
no reason why one should resort to fiction in order 
to depict scenes of heroism, daring, and sublime 
disregard of suffering in nearly every form. 

JAMES OTIS. 



CONTENTS 



Benjamin's Story 
The Ohio Company 
RuFus Putnam .... 
Colonel Putnam, the Engineer 
The First Emigrants . 
Building a Fleet 
Campus Martius .... 
The Arrival of General Putnam 
The Work of the First Emigrants 
Clearing the Land 
How Our Company was Formed 
Making Ready for the Journey 
Concerning Myself . 
Setting Out .... 

Mistress Devoll's Outfit . 
At Providence .... 
On the Road to Blooming Grove 
Plans for the Future 
On the Water Once More 
Feasting on Honey 
Among the Moravians 
The Rope Ferry 
The Way through Pennsylvania 
The Shame of the Girls . 
Meeting with Parson Cutler . 

5 



PAGE 
9 

lO 

13 
15 
16 
18 

21 
23 

25 
27 
28 

31 

32 
34 
37 
39 
40 

42 
43 
45 
47 
49 
50 
51 



CONTENTS 



Ohio Cornfields .... 

The Governor and Judges 

The Name of the Town 

Campus Martius . 

Independence Day 

Master Devoll's House 

The Indian Mounds . 

At Harrisburg .... 

Isaac Barker's Sport . 

Uncle Daniel Carter 

Uncle Daniel Joins Our Company 

Hard Traveling .... 

Mud and Water .... 

A Storm of Snow 

Across the Mountains 

A Friendly Dunkard . 

Master Hiples's Kindness . 

A Surly Landlord 

Isaac Flogs the Landlord 

A Much Needed Lesson 

A Time of Rest .... 

Pack Trains 

A Night Adventure . 

Fears about the Women and Children 

Descending the Mountains 

At the Foot of the Hills . 

Neaping the End of the Journey 

At Sumrill's Ferry 

Parting with Uncle Daniel 



CONTENTS 






7 


PAGE 

Our Flatboat 102 


The Cattle are Sent Away 






104 


At Pittsburgh ..... 






106 


Too Much Water .... 






108 


Escape of the Women and Children 






no 


Repairing Damages .... 






112 


Our Pilot 






114 


A Change of Weather 






116 


Noisy Fear 






117 


A Real Feast 






119 


Finding the Canoe 






120 


Buffalo Creek .... 






122 


The March across the Country 






. 124 


At Marietta .... 






. 126 


Plans for the Future 






. 128 


Inspecting the Town of Marietta 






. 130 


A Temporary Home 






. 132 


Buying Land .... 






. 134 


Visiting the Savages . 






• 137 


Captain Haskell's Advice . 






. 140 


A New Friend .... 






. 141 


Fishing through the Ice . 






. 142 


The Sabbath in Marietta . 






. 144 


A Regular Business . 






146 


A Visit from the Savages . 






147 


Building a Home 






. 149 


A Great Project 






. 150 


The Two Millers . . 






. 152 


The Savages on the Warpath . 






• 153 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 




BENJAMIN S STORY 

T seems a very long while since I 
promised to tell you of what I did 
after coming into this Ohio 
country, and yet even now I can- 
not well begin the tale without telling 
something about the Ohio Company, 
which was formed, as you know, by 
General Rufus Putnam. 
Twice I have begun the story, and twice I have 
stopped, understanding that you would not be able to 
make out why we did this or that, unless you first 
knew how it chanced that we came to make our homes 
here. 

When you and I, while we were both in Massachu- 
setts, talked about my journeying into this country, 
I may have spoken in such a way as to give you the 
idea that I believed it would be possible for me to do 
much toward the making of a new town. 

In fact, I did really then believe that my services 
would be of great value to those men who expected to 



lo BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

build a village here on the Muskingum River; but, 
although only two years have passed, I already un- 
derstand that a boy of my age is not of much worth 
in such an enterprise, more particularly when men like 
Parson Cutler and General Putnam are at the head of 
affairs. 

Do you remember how old I am? Well, there is 
here in this town of Marietta a fellow by the name of 
Jeremy Salter, who has become quite a friend of mine, 
and the other day he asked my age. 

I told him that I was born in December of the year 
of the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the 
election of General Washington to be commander in 
chief of the armies, and the battle of Bunker Hill, yet, 
if you will beheve me, the dolt was not able to fix the 
date. 

However, my age has nothing to do with our coming 
from Mattapoisett into Ohio, and now let me try to 
make it plain how it happened that we of Massachu- 
setts could come so far away and take up land simply 
because of having bought shares in the Ohio Company. 

THE OHIO COMPANY 

This is the story as I have heard it from General 
Putnam himself. It seems that when our war for in- 
dependence came to an end, the government did not 



THE OHIO COMPANY 



II 



have money enough with which to pay the soldiers for 
their services, or, as Parson Cutler says, the country 
was much the same as bankrupt; General Washing- 
ton himself declared that a wagonload of Continental 
money would be hardly sufficient to purchase a wagon- 
load of provisions. 

Now of course these soldiers must have their wages, 
and some men in the Congress proposed that the gov- 
ernment sell land in the western country in order to 
raise enough money. 

While this matter was being talked about. Congress 
ordered that a survey be made of the western lands, 




and Rufus Putnam himself received an appointment as 
one of the surveyors ; but, not being able to attend 



12 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



to the work personally, he induced an old com- 
rade, by the name of Benjamin Tupper, to take his 
place. 

When Master Tupper came back to the eastern colo- 
nies, after having been over the land, he told General 




Putnam what a great, grand country it was ; and it is 
said that the two old comrades sat up all night talk- 
ing over plans for buying land enough to form a colony, 
and that by daybreak they had decided to call a meet- 
ing of the citizens of Massachusetts and the near-by 
states, to be held at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in 
Boston, early in the month of March, 1786. 



RUFUS PUTNAM 13 

This meeting was held, and a company was organized, 
to be known as the Ohio Associates. 

The government had decided to use this land, as 
I have said, to pay off the soldiers, and this company, 
formed by General Putnam, employed Parson Manasseh 
Cutler and Master Winthrop Sargent to make a bar- 
gain with Congress. These two men offered to buy 
one million, five hundred thousand acres of land at 
one dollar an acre, paying down five hundred thousand 
dollars when the contract was signed, with the debts 
due the soldiers reckoned as so much ready money. 

Those who had banded themselves together could 
not raise the remaining million dollars, and the result 
was that the government cut down the agreement so 
that our Ohio Company had at its disposal a little more 
than a million acres of land, instead of a million and 
a half. 

RUFUS PUTNAM 

You surely remember what General Putnam has done 
for his country, or, I should say, what he did, even be- 
fore he came to Ohio. In 1757, when only nineteen 
years old, he enlisted as a common soldier in the Pro- 
vincial army, — for there was then war between England 
and France, — and served faithfully four years, until 
the surrender of Montreal, when the army was dis- 
banded. 



14 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



Then he went to his home in New Brain tree and 
worked at the trade of millwright; but he soon dis- 
covered that his education was not sufficient to enable 

him to continue the 
business to the best ad- 
vantage, therefore he 
devoted every moment 
of his spare time to the 
study of mathematics. 
Seven or eight years 
afterward, when it was 
believed the British gov- 
ernment would give to 
those soldiers who had 
served in the French 
X war certain lands some- 
where in the wild west- 
ern country, Rufus Put- 
nam was selected as one 
of a party to find out 
where it would be 
well for the people to 
settle. 

No sooner had the 
battle of Lexington been fought than Rufus Putnam 
was among the first to enlist; and it shows that he 
gained a good military reputation, for he was made 




COLONEL PUTNAM, THE ENGINEER 15 



lieutenant colonel of the first regiment raised in 
Massachusetts. 

COLONEL PUTNAM, THE ENGINEER 

Because of his knowledge of mathematics he was 
rhosen by the leaders of the American army to lay out 
the line of defenses round about Boston, 
and did more than a full share 
forcing the British to 
evacuate that city, be- 
cause of the skill with 
which he established 
the fortifications on 
Dorchester Heights. 
Later he was sent 
to New York, where 
he took charge of 
the defenses on Long 
Island, at Fort Lee, 
and King's Bridge; 
and during the year 
when our people 
made their formal declaration of independence, Rufus 
Putnam was appointed engineer, with the rank of 
colonel and pay at sixty dollars a month. 

The next year Colonel Putnam went back to Massa- 
chusetts, where he raised and took command of a 




BENJAMIN OF OHIO- 



i6 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

regiment which he afterward led in the battle of Still- 
water and again at Saratoga, covering himself with 
glory, so I have heard Parson Cutler say. 

After the surprise at Stony Point, Colonel Putnam 
was appointed to the command of a regiment in Gen- 
eral Wayne's brigade, continuing to serve with credit 
to himself, and to the best interests of his country, 
until 1783, when Congress promoted him to the rank 
of brigadier general ; he remained in the service of the 
people, filling one position or another, until this Ohio 
Company was formed, as I have told you. 

Another matter which you should bear in mind 
while thinking of us so far away, is that when Parson 
Cutler made the trade with the government for land 
in the Ohio country, he induced the Congress to set 
aside two entire townships, of thirty-six square miles 
each, for the support of a university, and in each of the 
other townships one square mile to be used solely 
for the support of schools and churches. Therefore, 
even before any man had begun the building of a home 
here on the Muskingum River, schools and churches 
were provided for, which is more, I believe, than can be 
said regarding most new settlements. 

THE FIRST EMIGRANTS 

You remember all the talk and excitement in Massa- 
chusetts at this time, when so much was being told re- 



THE FIRST EMIGRANTS 



17 



garding the beauties of the Ohio country, and you know 
how eager I was to set out with that first party which 
left Dan vers under the leadership of Major Haffield 
White on the first day of December, in the year 1787. 




As you also know, these men were to halt some- 
where on the Youghiogheny River to build boats, in 
order to continue the journey by water, and a second 
party, under the command of General Putnam himself, 
was to leave Hartford in Connecticut shortly after- 
ward, to join those from Massachusetts. 

This second company was really led by Colonel 
Ebenezer Sproat because General Putnam was forced 
to go to New York on some business of his own, and 
did nott'iucceed in overtaking the people until they had 
come to Swatara Creek in Pennsylvania. 



i8 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



BUILDING A FLEET 

Major Haffield White's party arrived at Sumrill's 
Ferry, after a long and tedious journey over the old 
MiHtary Road, on the twenty-third day of January, 
in the year 1788, and immediately began building boats. 

On the fourteenth of February, General Putnam's 




party, by which I mean those who set out from 
Hartford, joined those who were already at the ferry, 
and the two companies landed here on the bank of the 
Muskingum River the seventh day of April, in the year 
1788. 

All this is an old and familiar story ; but it £^ well for 
me to remind you of it, so that you can the better un- 



CAMPUS MARTIUS 19 

der stand how I, who had beUeved and hoped I was 
coming into a new country to do my full share in build- 
ing up a town, found everything, as one might say, 
ready to hand. 

Instead of cutting through the wilderness in order 
to build houses, we found the land so far cleared that 
we might get about the home making at once, and dur- 
ing the time the work was being carried on, the people 
lived in the fort, which General Putnam calls Campus 
Martins. It is situated near Fort Harmar, a forti- 
fication standing on the west bank of the Muskingum 
River near its mouth, and not far from this town of 
Marietta. It was built in 1785, and Colonel Josiah 
Harmar is now in command. 

CAMPUS MARTIUS 

What do I mean by Campus Martins, when I claim 
to be living in the town of Marietta ? When General 
Putnam and his company arrived here, the first thing 
they did was to build a fort for the protection, not 
only of themselves, but of those who might come 
after; concerning this fort I will tell you later, but 
first you may be, and probably are, as curious as I 
was regarding the name. 

I asked General Putnam, and he told me it was 
named after a certain lot of land in the city of Rome, 
which was used for popular assemblies and military 



20 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



exercises. However, the town itself is called Marietta, 
after Marie Antoinette of France, who was so bru- 
tally killed by her 
subjects during the 
Reign of Terror. 

Perhaps it would 
be better if I begin 
this story by tell- 
ing you how we 
got here, for the 
journey was not 
only long, but tire- 
some, and made at 
the cost of much 
labor. But yet it 
seems best to set down all 
within my knowledge con- 
cerning those men who first 
came out, meaning the party 
-^ which left Danvers in Massa- 
chusetts, and that which started 
from Hartford in Connecticut. 

All that I know about Major White's company dur- 
ing the march is that they came over what is called the 
old Military Road, across Pennsylvania, until they ar- 
rived at the Youghiogheny River, which they crossed, 
and then went into winter quarters at SumrilFs Ferry. 




THE ARRIVAL OF GENERAL PUTNAM 



21 



There they set about building a flatboat, which they 
called the Mayflower , making her forty-six feet long 
and twelve feet wide, with a roof deck and 
a sharp bow, to be propelled 
by either sails 




or oars ; they 
built also a smaller 
flatboat and several canoes. 



THE ARRIVAL OF GENERAL PUTNAM 

It was while they were building this fleet that General 
Putnam's party joined them, and on the first day of 
April the new Mayflower, together with the smaller 
craft, began the voyage down the Ohio, arriving oppo- 
site Fort Harmar on the seventh day of April. There 
were forty-eight men on board the vessels : four sur- 
veyors with twenty-two others to attend them, six 
boat builders, four carpenters, one blacksmith, and 
eleven so-called common hands. 

I myself have heard General Putnam say that when 
his company arrived at Swatara Creek it was frozen 



22 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



over, but not sufficiently hard to bear the weight of the 
wagon, and they spent one entire day cutting a passage 
throifgh the ice. Then, later, he says so great was the 
quantity of snow as to block up the roads, and when 
they got as far as Cooper's, at the foot of the Tusca- 




rora mountains, they found old snow twelve inches deep. 
Nothing save pack horses had passed over it, therefore 
it was necessary to build sleds and harness the animals 
one before the other, with the men marching in front 
to break out the roads, and thus they continued until 
arriving at the Youghiogheny, as I have already said. 
As you know, our town of Marietta is on the Mus- 
kingum River at its mouth where it empties into the 
Ohio, and I am sending you such a drawing as I have 
been able to make, so that you may know just where 
we are located. 



THE WORK OF THE FIRST EMIGRANTS 



23 



THE WORK OF THE FIRST EMIGRANTS 

Most likely General Putnam decided upon this par- 
ticular place in which to build a town because Fort 
Harmar, erected here in the year 1785, would afford a 
very timely place of refuge in case the Indians made an 




attack upon our people before they were in condition 
to defend themselves. 

Fort Harmar is on the lower bank of the river, while 
our town of Marietta is on the opposite side, or what 
might be called the upper point of land between the 
Muskingum and the Ohio. 



24 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



Allen, who is a son of Captain Jonathan DevoU, 
and came with the first party from Danvers, told me 

that as soon as our 
people landed they 
set about making 
huts of boards 
which had been 
brought with them 
from Sumrill's 
Ferry, and at the 
same time put up a 
canvas tent for the 
use of General Put- 
nam, wherein he 
could transact the 
business of the new 
colony, and in such 
shelters they lived 
until the fort had 
been completed. 
The surveyors immediately began laying out the town 
lots and the farms for those people who had bought 
shares in the company, and many laws or regulations 
were made by General Putnam and his friends, which 
were nailed to the trunk of a large tree on the river 
bank where all might see them. 

The place was then, and is now, as beautiful a spot 




CLEARING THE LAND 25 

as one could well imagine. There are fish in the rivers 
in abundance, and game of every kind to be found in 
greatest plenty. Just fancy herds of buffaloes and 
deer roaming through the forest and over the plains, 
while wild turkeys are found in such numbers as would 
do your heart good, especially after a good plump one 
has been cooked on a spit in front of a roaring fire. 

There was very little hunting done for sport, however, 
so Allen DevoU told me. Those people who went out 
in search of game did so only that they might pro- 
vide themselves and their companions with food; for 
the work on every hand was abundant. 

CLEARING THE LAND 

Enormous trees in the forest were to be girdled and 
thus killed that they might the more easily be hewn 
down, and the soil had to be prepared for planting. That 
these newcomers were not idle may be understood when 
I tell you that, during the first spring they were here, 
one hundred and thirty acres of corn were planted. 

Of course there were no cleared fields, such as one 
might see about Mattapoisett. The seed was put in 
among stumps, where only the underbrush had been 
cleared away; therefore a plow could not be run to 
make, a straight furrow. 

The greater portion of the work was done with hoes 
and spades; and already I have had disagreeable ex- 



26 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



perience in that kind of labor, which causes one's back 
to ache woefully and blisters the hands even of those 

who are accus- 
tomed to such 
toil. 

And now after 
all this, which is 
what you might 
call the begin- 
ning of my story, 
I will tell you 
of our leaving 
home, and of 
that long, weari- 
some journey 
across the moun- 
tains, when we 
forded creeks 
and, if you 
please, might be 
said to have walked from one side of the state of 
Pennsylvania to the other. 

I have sometimes regretted that I was not with the 
company led by Major White, or under the leadership 
of Colonel Sproat, so that I could say that I was one of 
the first to step foot in this Ohio country with the idea 
of making a home ; but those voyagers were only men 




HOW OUR COMPANY WAS FORMED 27 

who could perform such work as boat building or sur- 
veying, and boys were neither wanted nor allowed. 

HOW OUR COMPANY WAS FORMED 

First you should know that Captain Jonathan Devoll 
was a member of the company that came here under the 
leadership of Major White, setting out from Danvers. 
He had left his family behind in Providence, and because 
of that fact perhaps, I was given an opportunity to 
come. 

Having neither father nor mother, and being depend- 
ent upon those who were willing to provide me with 
work whereby I might gain a livelihood, there was no 
one to push forward my claim to become one of the 
emigrants, save only Mistress Devoll herself, who 
needed some one to aid her in caring for the children 
during the journey, for she is not a very strong 
woman. 

Master John Rouse had bought a share in the com- 
pany and was making ready to start with his family, 
when he received word that he should bring with him 
all Captain Devoll's family. Then there was Captain 
Haskell in our town of Mattapoisett, an old sailor who 
owned a large covered wagon and two horses. 

Master Rouse had only one team of horses; therefore 
he proposed to Captain Haskell that they join forces, 
and surely it was a good trade for Master Rouse, 



28 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

since he had a large family to take with him, while the 
old captain was alone in the world. 

Because of the labor involved in driving four horses 
during so long a time as would be required for the jour- 
ney, it was decided that young Ben Gushing should be 
hired as driver, and thus the party was made up, until 
Mistress Devoll so kindly interfered in my behalf, 
claiming that she had a right to take with her at 
least one more lad. 

MAKING READY FOR THE JOURNEY 

I wish I could describe to you the excitement under 
which we all labored while making ready for the long 
journey ! 

Do you remember the Rouse family? First there 
is Michael, twenty-two years old ; then Bathsheba, who 
is nineteen or thereabouts; and Elizabeth, two years 
younger. Cynthia is two years younger than Eliza- 
beth ; Ruth is only eleven years old; Stephen, six, and 
the twins, Robert and Barker, only four. 

Now if Mistress Devoll had not needed my services, 
I should have found ample opportunity of earning my 
way across to the Ohio country by taking care of the 
Rouse children. 

The most important matter was the preparing of 
the wagon, where the women would sleep during such 
nights as we failed to find lodgings in taverns or farm- 



MAKING READY FOR THE JOURNEY 



29 



houses, and it was with infinite care that Master Rouse 
and Captain Haskell almost rebuilt this cart, which was 
what I believe is generally called a Conestoga wagon, 
although why it -^ -^ 

should be given such 
a name I do not un- 
derstand, unless it 
may have been made 
in some town by 
the name of Cones- 
toga. 

With so many in 
the company, you 
can fancy that it was 
a difficult matter to 
decide just what 
should be taken and 
what left behind, for 
it was of the utmost 
importance that the 
baggage be reduced 
to the smallest pos- 
sible amount, and in 
order that it might be packed with the greatest 
economy, boxes were made to fit exactly into the 
bottom of the wagon, so that no space would be left 
unoccupied. On top of these were stowed the beds 




30 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 




and bedding, while cooking utensils hung around on 

the inside, where we might get at them handily at 

mealtime, for, as it proved, very 

many days we were forced to do our 

cooking by the roadside, with such 

fireplaces as could be built up with 

rocks which we lads gathered. 

Two trunks were placed at one end 
of the wagon, where they served as a 
barrier to prevent the twins from 
falling out when they played on the 
bedding, and upon the axles were hung 
buckets and such tools as 



might be needed during 
the journey, thus giving 
the outfit a decidedly 
comical, but perhaps 
homelike, appearance. 

We took with us only 
a small amount of grain 
for the horses, trusting to 
buy all that might be 
needed until we had journeyed as far as Carlisle in 
Pennsylvania. After that there would be less chance 
of coming upon farms where such things could be 
purchased, and then the animals would be forced to 
subsist only on grass. 




CONCERNING MYSELF 31 

CONCERNING MYSELF 

My part of the outfit consisted of the clothes I wore, 
for I am ashamed to say that I did not own a second 
coat which would have been presentable in any com- 
pany. Therefore I did not allow myself to be troubled 
when the women complained long and bitterly because 
they had so little with which to work or make them- 
selves comfortable, and for the only time in my life 
it did seem as if my poverty was really a blessing. 

I hved in a perfect fever of excitement during the 
three weeks we were making ready for the voyage, and 
on the evening before the eventful day I was so wrought 
up in my mind that to sleep was an impossibility. 
From the time I laid myself down on my bed in 
Master Rouse's stable, until the sun rose, I did not 
close my eyes in slumber; then I acted as if I had 
never seen a horse or harness before, for when Ben 
Gushing called on me to aid him in putting the animals 
to the pole, my hands trembled so that I could not 
fasten a buckle, let alone arrange the straps to his 
liking. 

Ben is a careful driver and one who ever looks after 
the welfare of his beasts. To him a strap too long or 
too short, a buckle out of place or liable to break, is 
almost the same as a sin. 

I need not have allowed myself to be worked up to 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO 3 



32 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



such an extent, however, for the first part of our 
journey was nothing more nor less than pleasure. 

Half a dozen young 
girls, on horseback, 
set off with us, ex- 
pecting to ride as far 
as the Long Plain, 
which is six miles out 
from Mattapoisett, 
and the entire popu- 
lation, as it appeared 
to me, had turned 
out to see us get 
under way with that 
long Cones toga wagon 
covered with canvas, 
on the sides of which 
had been painted, 
'' To the Ohio 
Country." 




SETTING OUT 

What a cheering and shaking of hands, and what a 
showxring of good wishes upon us took place in that 
Mattapoisett street ! 

If we could have had Parson Cutler with us to give 
what you might call an official sanction to the start, 



SETTING OUT 



S3 



as was done when Major White's party set off from 

Danvers, then I would have been more content. 

Surely, however, there was no need for me to make 

complaint, because never before had I witnessed such 

a scene of excitement as when Ben Gushing 

gathered up the reins, and the townspeople 

stood around the heavy wagon until 

Mistress Rouse cried out in alarm ; 

lest some of them be 

over. The twins, insisting 

on going the first mile 

or more afoot, ran 

here and there until 

it seemed to me at 

times that they were 

under the very feet 

of the horses during 

three minutes of 

every four. 

It was really a re- 
Hef, when we had drawn out of the town so far that 
the more excited ones could no longer call out to say 
once more ''good-by" or "God bless you." I ought 
not to have been so impatient, for many a long day 
was to pass before I again saw faces on which I 
could read expressions of good will and friendliness 
toward me. 




34 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

This first portion of our journey was quite like a 
merrymaking. The young women rode either side 
the wagon ; the Rouse girls walked, or sat beside their 
mother in the big cart, as pleased them best, and the 
twins, soon tiring of striving to entangle themselves 
with the horses' legs, were ready to come in under the 
shelter of the canvas. 

We drove only six miles, and indeed this was quite 
a journey for the first day, because the animals were 
not accustomed to traveling together and gave Ben 
Gushing no little trouble. Besides, our departure 
had been delayed so long, owing to the townspeople, 
that it was nearly noon before we had left Mattapoisett 
behind us, and the day was nearly done when we had 
come to the Long Plain, and there stopped at the 
home of Mistress DevoU's cousin. 

MISTRESS DEVOLL's OUTFIT 

We had but one wagon for all our party from the 
time we left Mattapoisett until coming to Providence. 
Mistress DevoU and Mistress Rouse are sisters and 
were much together at Mattapoisett after Captain 
Devoll set off for the Ohio country. It was while the 
captain's wife was in our village that she made me the 
offer to pay my passage to the Muskingum River by 
looking after her belongings. 

Mistress Devoll expected to join Master Rouse's 



MISTRESS DEVOLL'S OUTFIT 35 

company at her home in Providence, where she was to 
have ready a wagon in which would be all her house- 
hold goods that could be transported over the moun- 
tains. She was to have a team of four horses, and her 
brother, Isaac Barker, was to act as driver, while I 
played the part of helper. 

Therefore on leaving Mattapoisett I ran ahead or 
behind Master Rouse's wagon, or clambered up by the 



side of Ben Gushing when the seat next to him was not 
occupied, for he was a good friend of mine and could 
be counted on to give me a hint now and then, if I 
overstepped my bounds. 

The stay at the Long Plain overnight was what 
you might call a friendly visit for all the members of 



36 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



the company save Ben Gushing and me; but we two 
were not lonely, for we laid ourselves down to sleep in 
the wagon, after having had a boun- 
tiful meal at the home of Mistress 
Devoirs cousin, and it is safe to 
say that during the 
first night 
?\ after starting 
M' for the Ohio 




country we slept more comfortably, if not more soundly, 
than on any other during the journey. 

We were up at break of day, however, for the horses 
were to be groomed and fed, and Master Rouse had 
decided that we must travel as far as Providence 
before nightfall. 

The young women who had come out from Matta- 
poisett with us, went back some time late in the eve- 
ning after Gushing and I were asleep, and when break- 
fast had been eaten we set off once more, just as the 
sun was rising. It seemed as if this was really the 
beginning of the journey, for we were alone, plodding 



AT PROVIDENCE 



37 



over the dusty road which, to look into the future, 
seemed as if it would have no end. 



AT PROVIDENCE 

An hour after sunset we halted in front of Mistress 
Devoirs house. The horses were unhitched and taken 
to a stable, where Ben and I were speedily joined by 
Isaac Barker, whom we had seen 
more than once in Mattapoi- 
sett, and we three, while caring 
for the animals, discussed at 
great length the undertaking 
which lay all before us. 

A rare hand at making sport 
was Isaac Barker, and many 
a time after leaving Provi- 
dence it did seem to me /■ 
that but for his quips 
and jokes wx might 
have given up in 
despair at trying to 
gain this country, for 
the way was hard 
over the best of the 
roads we found, and there were many moments, 
after we got into Pennsylvania, when all the mem- 
bers of the company were forced to lay hold of ropes 




38 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

• 

tied to the tops of the carts to prevent them from 
oversetting. Then it was that Isaac's nonsense really 
served to hearten us. 

You can well fancy that when we were once among 
the mountains the way was exceedingly hard to travel, 
and again and again I have laid my shoulder against 
the hind end of one of the wagons, straining every 
muscle to help the horses on, while every other man 
and boy was doing the same, and doing it to the utmost 
of his power. 

We lost no time in leaving Providence next morn- 
ing. Mistress Devoll's wagon was packed and ready, 
and after eating a breakfast which had been prepared 
by some of the neighbors, we set off, I walking with 
the men either ahead or behind the teams, for there 
was not sufficient room in both wagons for all our com- 
pany to ride. There are five of the Devoll children : 
Sally, twelve years old ; Henry, two years younger ; 
Charles, aged eight; Barker, five; and Francis, a 
baby not much more than a year old. 

Isaac Barker cracked jokes as he swung the whip 
over the backs of the horses ; the Rouse girls sang until 
they were hoarse ; the smaller children screamed with 
delight because we were finally on our way to the 
wilderness; and everything went on as if we were still 
simply bent upon pleasure during this third day of 
the journey. 



ON THE ROAD TO BLOOMING GROVE 



39 



ON THE ROAD TO BLOOMING GROVE 

Now it is not in my mind to set down an account of 
every day's journey while we were in what you might 
call civilized country, for we simply drove the horses 
as far as we could each day, with due care to a rest- 
ing place at night, passing through Farmington, Litch- 
field, and Ballsb ridge, to the Hudson River. 

Of course it was necessary t6 cross the water, and 
to do this. Master Rouse and Captain Haskell hired 
two large boats into which 
we could stow the wagons 
as well as the horses. By 
the aid of both sails and 
oars the clumsy 
craft were navigated 
from Fishkill to 
Newburgh, where we 
took to the road 
again, traveling ten 
miles to a village 
called Blooming 
Grove. There we 
stopped at a tavern 
kept by a man 
named Goldsmith. 

There is no particular reason why I should have 
remembered that man's name so long, had it not been 




40 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

that seeing me rubbing the legs of Mistress DevolFs 
horses, on that evening, he took me kindly by the ear 
and said that I was a likely looking lad such as he 
stood in need of to help him about the tavern, propos- 
ing, if I would remain with him, to give me my board 
and clothes during the first year, allowing m_e to attend 
school meanwhile, at the same time promising that 
when such term of service had expired he would make 
another bargain, which should include a certain sum 
of money as wages. 

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 

Perhaps it might have been better for me had I 
accepted the good man's offer, and yet there was in 
my mind such a desire to go out into that Ohio country 
where even the poorest lad, if he was willing to work 
to the best of his ability, could make a home for him- 
self, that I could not bring myself to think of remain- 
ing at the tavern doing chores for this farmer or that, 
and getting no farther ahead in the world. 

All of which I told him, and when I had come to an 
end of my talk, he replied that he could not blame me 
for holding to the choice I had made, and said he 
hoped it might be possible for me to do all that was in 
my mind. At the same time he assured me that if I 
found this part of the country different from what I 
had fancied, and was ready to come back into civiliza- 



PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 



41 



tion, where I might have the comforts of home, I should 
present myself to him. 

Although I have not advanced so far in the world as 
I had hoped might have been possible, I have not 




fallen in the race of life. I am no worse off than when 
I landed here at Marietta, and have laid up for myself 
some few dollars, in addition to the knowledge that 
I am of service in the settlement; therefore I cannot 
regret the choice I made at Blooming Grove. 



42 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

After leaving that village we journeyed over good 
roads through the towns of Chester and Warwick, 
finally crossing the state line into New Jersey, and com- 
ing to the town of Newton. 

We had neither adventure nor mishap during this 
portion of our travels, for the roads were good, the 
horses inchned to move at a reasonably rapid pace, 
and those who would have walked from choice found 
themselves speedily distanced. More than once were 
Master Rouse, Captain Haskell, and I so far behind 
the wagons that the drivers believed it necessary to 
halt in order that we might join the company. 

From Newton we went past Sussex Court House, or 
the Log Jail as it is called, through the towns of Hope 
and Oxford, to the village of Easton, which is situated 
at the forks of the Delaware River. 

ON THE WATER ONCE MORE 

Here we were forced to take to the water once more, 
in order that we might cross over into the state of 
Pennsylvania, and because there was but one flatboat 
to be hired at this place, no little time was spent in 
making the passage. 

It was near nightfall when we were safely landed on 
the Pennsylvania shore, and then came the question 
as to where we might spend the night. 

The ferryman had told Captain Haskell that five 



FEASTING ON HONEY 



43 



^-^1 



miles down the road was a farm owned by an old 
German who was disposed to care for travelers who 
were well-behaved and will- 
ing to pay a certain small 
sum for the service he ren- 
dered. We therefore has- 
tened our pace, 
moving as rapidly 
as possible, until, half an 
hour after the sun had set, 
we came to a farm, the 
buildings of which would 
have delighted the eyes of 
any man who had a care 
for such things. 

Surely no one could have 
been more hospitable than 
were the old German and his wife, to say nothing of 
the four sons and three daughters, all of whom made 
us welcome and insisted that we come into their kitchen 
to eat supper with them, rather than make any attempt 
at providing our own meals, as we had been doing 
nearly all the time since leaving Mattapoisett. 




FEASTING ON HONEY 

How Ben Gushing and I did eat that night ! The 
owner of the farm had given especial attention to the 



44 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



raising of bees and had a large store of honey on hand. 
The farmer's wife and daughters baked such cakes of 
buckwheat as I never before tasted, and these, plenti- 
fully covered with the golden honey, made up a meal 
which still lingers in my memory. 




We passed the night there, all the 
company except Ben Gushing, Isaac 
Barker, and me, sleeping on the floor 
of the kitchen and hving room, where beds had been 
spread for their comfort. 

Captain Haskell showed how a sailor could take 
advantage of every inch of space, for when the women 
claimed that there was not room in which to make up 
beds for all and dispose of their clothing properly dur- 
ing the hours of the night, the captain turned down 
the chairs so that the backs of them would serve as 
heads for the beds, thus making pillows, and pointed 



AMONG THE MORAVIANS 



45 



out that the spaces underneath could be filled with the 
clothing where it might be found readily in the morning. 

Ben, Isaac, and I found snug resting places for 
ourselves in the sweet-smelling hay on the mow, and 
slept, I dare say, quite as soundly and sweetly as did 
those who were sheltered in the house. 

When morning came, that is to say, when there was 
the first evidence of the dawning of a new day, we three 
set about making ready the horses for the journey, and 
were no sooner come to an end of our labors than we 
were summoned by one of the girls to the kitchen, 
where, the beds having been removed from the floor, 
a table was spread most bountifully. 



AMONG THE MORAVIANS 

The next day of our journey was most entertaining, 
at least so it seemed to me, for we came to the town of 




Bethlehem, which is 
settled almost en- 
tirely by those ardent 
Christian men and 



46 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



women who are known as Moravians and who have 
already sent out missionaries among the Indians, 
doing no small amount of good. 

Those Moravian people were exceedingly hospitable, 
urging us to partake of food in their houses, insisting 
on feeding our horses, and allowing us to wander where- 
soever we would. 

Indeed there was much to be seen in their town, for 
at one of the houses was a pet bear which was most 
amusing, and the smaller children, as well as ^|, 
Ben Gushing and I, spent more than an '^^'■^ 
hour watching the little fellow's clumsy, 
and at the same time comical, antics. ^^^'Cf 
There were also a number of 
pet deer wandering about 
the streets, and when we 
had fed them with clover, 
to our heart's content, we 
were delighted at seeing a 
large throng of 




little girls coming from school, dressed in what was to 

me a most singular fashion, although not unbecoming. 

They all wore short gowns with gayly-colored petti- 



THE ROPE FERRY 47 

coats, which came an inch or two below the frock 
itself, and had small, white linen caps which caused 
them to look much like old ladies. Prim and demure 
they were while marching in an orderly manner through 
the streets, and yet I saw more than one cast a sidelong 
glance toward our company of children, with a twinkle 
in their eyes as token that, were they so permitted, they 
could show us that they had in their natures quite as 
much love for fun as any other boy or girl. 

THE ROPE FERRY 

We stayed longer in Bethlehem than we were war- 
ranted in doing, when one takes into consideration the 
length of the journey before us ; but it was all so enter- 
taining, so peaceful, and there was such an air of friend- 
liness among the people, that I was sorry when we 
drove out of the town, hoping to find lodgings for the 
night at the house of a German, eight miles beyond. 

And so we journeyed on without adventure until we 
came to the Lehigh River, and there I saw what I dare 
say no fellow in Massachusetts has laid eyes upon. It 
was called a rope ferry, by means of which we were to 
cross the river. 

Ben Gushing claims that there is nothing wonderful 
about this ferry, for it consists simply of a rope stretched 
from one bank of the river to the other ; to this, at- 
tached by a noose, or, in other words, a hawser which 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO 4 



48 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

will readily slip, the ferryboat is made fast in such a 
manner that the stern is lower downstream than the bow, 
and the current catching this, forces the boat along. 

Perhaps I haven't made this very plain to you, 
but it is operated on the principle of force applied to 




what might be called an inclined plane; therefore, 
since the craft cannot be shoved downstream by the 
current, it must be urged toward the opposite shore. 

At all events to me it was a great curiosity, whether 
Ben Gushing thought it so or not, and I studied the 
general arrangement so carefully that if we should 
need anything of the kind in this country, I am quite 
certain I could build one. 



THE WAY THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA 



49 



THE WAY THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA 

Now our way lay through AUentown and Kutztown 
to Reading; the roads over which we traveled were 
so good, and the horses so willing, that every member 
of our company enjoyed himself to the utmost. 

I I ;. Cynthia Rouse and 

Sally Devoll visited 
back and forth from 
wagon to wagon during 
each day, their favorite 
seat being with the 
driver, where they 
could see what was 
going on and sing to 
their heart's content. 
We were treated 




kindly by the people, who sold us bread and butter, 
milk or meat, and now and then we came to a store 
or tavern where we could lay in additional supplies of 
provisions, but, as a rule, thus far we had found it 
possible to buy from farmers all that we might need. 
At night, when we were stopping at a farmhouse, 
and after the small children had been put to bed, the 



50 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

older girls would set about preparing provisions for 
the next day, perhaps borrowing cooking utensils, for 
our own were few in number and fitted rather for use 
on a rough fireplace out of doors than in a well-ordered 
kitchen. 

It had become the rule that Isaac Barker, Ben Gush- 
ing, and I were to sleep in the wagons during the night 
to guard against the possibility of evil-disposed persons. 
Up to this time, however, we had had no trouble of the 
kind; but Captain Haskell insisted that we remain 
constantly on our guard, claiming that the day might 
come when we would fall in with people not so friendly 
as those who had thus far cheered us on our way. 



THE SHAME OF THE GIRLS 

On the day when we went into Reading, Cynthia 
Rouse and Sally DevoU were on the front seat of 
Isaac's wagon, and as they rode along the girls saw two 
old German women swingling, or as they called it, 
" scutchelling " flax. 

The old ladies presented a most comical appearance, 
and the girls laughed loudly, never thinking for a 
moment that they were being rude ; but when the flax 
swinglers looked up angrily and saw the legend on our 
wagon cover, one of them shouted to the girls that if 
they were going into the Ohio country, the day would 



MEETING WITH PARSON CUTLER 



51 



soon come when they also would be swingling flax, 
if they did their duty. 

As may be supposed, this caused the girls no little 
shame, for being thus reproved by their elders was 
not pleasant, more 
particularly when 
they knew they had 
been guilty of rude- 
ness. 

This town of Read- 
ing was the most 
considerable place 
we had seen since 
leaving Massachu- 
setts, and Master 
Rouse decided that 
we should remain there at least one day because of 
the number of shops where we could buy such articles 
as were needed, or otherwise put ourselves in readiness 
for the rougher journey which we knew lay before us. 




MEETING WITH PARSON CUTLER 

It was owing to this decision that we got late and 
trustworthy news concerning the land where we counted 
on making our homes, for there we met Parson Cutler 
himself. 

I despair of making you understand how surprised 



52 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



and delighted we were at meeting the parson midway 
in our journey. 

We all knew that during the summer he had set out 
in his sulky intending to drive from Ipswich to Marietta ; 




but since we did not leave until October, we supposed, 
if indeed we gave very much heed to the matter, that 
Master Cutler must have returned long ere this. 

The parson appeared quite as well pleased to see us 
as we were to see him, and straightway commended 
Master Rouse and Captain Haskell upon their spirit 
in thus going out into the Ohio country, where he as- 
sured them they would find such farming lands as had 
never been seen in Massachusetts. In addition to 
this, he set Mistress Devoll's mind at rest regarding 
her husband and spent no little time explaining to her 
what the captain had done in the way of building the 



OHIO CORNFIELDS 



53 



Mayflower and the other boats which carried the first 
settlers down the river. 



OHIO CORNFIELDS 

Among other things, he told us of the enormous fields 
of corn which had been planted, described to us the 
cabins our people had built, which were little more 
than low huts cov- 
ered in with wal- 
nut bark, and 
declared that the 
houses and the corn 
seemed to grow at 
the same time, al- 
though the corn 
speedily overshad- 
owed the small 
dwellings, for it 
grew so tall that 
one had to stand 
on tiptoes to break 
off an ear, while in 
Massachusetts it 
was often necessary 
for a farmer to 
stoop. 

''One could as 




54 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

easily be lost in a cornfield on a cloudy day as in a 
cedar swamp," Parson Cutler said, and then went on 
to tell how much like a forest were these fields, where 
the green grain grew above one's head with leaves 
so huge as to shut out all rays of light from one furrow 
to another. 

He rather dampened the ardor of some of the women 
when he said that the surveyors were forced to do their 
work under the protection of a guard of armed men, 
for fear of prowHng Indians, and the children looked 
at each other in alarm as he told of one of the settlers 
who had been bitten, when asleep, by a copperheaof 
snake. 

THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES 

We heard also from Parson Cutler that General 
Arthur St. Clair had been appointed governor of the 
Ohio district. He was a citizen of Pennsylvania, 
had been a distinguished ofiicer in the Revolutionary 
army, and president of Congress, in addition to which 
he stood high in the confidence of Washington. Samuel 
H. Parsons of Connecticut, and James M. Varnum of 
Massachusetts, both of whom were directors in the 
Ohio Company, and John Cleves Symmes of New 
Jersey had been made judges, with Winthrop Sargent 
of New Hampshire as secretary of the territory. 

The judges arrived at Marietta in June, and on the 



THE GOVERNOR AND JUDGES 55 

gth^ of July, Governor St. Clair joined them. He 
was escorted by a detachment of troops under Major 
Doughty, who had gone up to Pittsburgh from Fort 
Harmar some days before to meet him, and was re- 
ceived with military honors and a salute. 

One of the soldiers afterward told me that when the 
governor landed he was greeted with thirteen rounds 




from a fieldpiece. When he approached the garrison, the 
music played a salute, the troops paraded and presented 
their arms, and he was also welcomed by a clap of 
thunder and a heavy shower of rain as he entered the 
fort. It seemed to this soldier a very pleasant way of 
receiving the governor of a new territory. 

As might have been expected. Parson Cutler was 
enthusiastic in his praise of our town of Marietta, and 



$6 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

he read to us that which General Washington himself 
had written, which was this : — 

''No colony in America was ever settled under 
such favorable auspices as that which has just com- 
menced at the Muskingum. Information, property, 
and strength will be its characteristics. I know many 
of the settlers personally, and there never were men 
better calculated to promote the welfare of such a 
community." 

There was little need for Parson Cutler to try to 
strengthen us in the determination to continue the 
journey, for none of our party were weak-kneed ; but 
it pleased us much to know that such a man as General 
Washington could praise so heartily those who had 
begun the building of Marietta. 

THE NAME OF THE TOWN 

And now, lest I forget it, and since it is brought to my 
mind by what Parson Cutler said to us, let me tell you 
that this town came very near being named Adelphia. 
It was the Parson's idea, and he said much to us con- 
cerning it, complaining, as I thought, because it had 
been called Marietta. The meaning of Adelphia is 
''brethren," so he said, and he claimed that by having 
constantly before them the idea that they were to 
dwell there as brethren, the people might be more in- 
clined to act as such. 



THE NAME OF THE TOWN 



57 



-^^^^'^ 



Later, when he had gone, I heard Master Rouse 
and Captain Haskell discussing the matter, and both 
allowed that the good parson was really irritated be- 
cause his suggestion had 
been cast aside, for one 
could readily see that 
Master Cutler had set 
his mind stoutly upon 
the name Adelphia. In 
my opinion, however. 
Marietta is much bet- 
ter. 

Among other things, 
Parson Cutler told us 
that game was so plen- 
tiful even close about 
Marietta, that we need 
have no fear of ever 
being hungry. He said 
that in the course of a 
walk one morning up 
the Muskingum bottom 
he saw four deer, and 
there were ripe grapes hanging in profusion all around 
him. In addition to that, he found clam beds on the 
shores, and, what was not quite so pleasant, killed a 
rattlesnake that lay coiled up in his path. 




58 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



I don't claim to be timorous under ordinary 
circumstances, and am ready to stand my chances 
against Indians or bears ; but when it comes to snakes, 
I must say that there is a bit of cowardice in me, for 
a fellow can't guard himself against such enemies, 
and it seems to me that they, with the savages, make 
up the disagreeable features in all the pictures that 
were drawn for us of our new home. 



CAMPUS MARTIUS 

Now listen to this description which Parson Cutler 
gave us of Campus Martins, and I have since come 
to know that he did not set forth its characteristics any 
too strongly. 

It is a kind of house, or castle, if you please, instead 
of a regular fort, made in the form of a hollow square. 










of which the sides measure one hundred and eighty 
feet, and is surrounded by a heavy line of palisades, — 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 59 

meaning a high log fence, — as protection against .the 
Indians. 

This building contains seventy- two rooms, each 
eighteen feet square or more, and General Putnam had 
told the Parson that in case of necessity nine hundred 
people could live within its walls. 

Surely it seems like a city of itself, when one attempts 
to go from end to end inside the broad passages, and 
sees the doors leading to rooms in which an entire 
family might contrive to live with more or less comfort. 

Parson Cutler was twenty-nine days driving from 
Ipswich to Marietta in his sulky, so he told us; but 
do not understand that such a journey may always 
be made in so short a time. He took advantage of 
the best season of the year in which to make the trip, 
and returned before the snow came; consequently, and 
because of travehng without very much baggage, and 
with a stout horse to draw his light sulky, he could 
make many more miles in a day than could such 
wagons as ours. 

INDEPENDENCE DAY 

He told us of the Fourth of July celebration, which 
was held in Marietta on that first Independence Day 
after the settlers arrived there. They set about making 
a feast, and verily it must have been one. There were 
venison barbecues, — meaning deer roasted whole, — 



6o 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



buffalo steaks broiled oyer the glowing coals, bear meat 
cooked in every manner that could be devised with 
the few cooking implements our people possessed, small 
pigs roasted whole, and, as the greatest delicacy of all. 




an enormous pike, more than six feet long, said to be 
the largest ever caught in the Ohio River. 

The feast was kept up until twelve o'clock at night, 
and then the tired merrymakers went to their cabins 
and slept until late in the forenoon, as the parson said, 
in such a tone as if he believed they were wasting their 
time by thus remaining in bed after the sun had risen. 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 6i 

Then came, according to Parson Cutler's story, at 
a later date, the opening of the first court in the terri- 
tory, and it must have been a wondrous spectacle. 
The sheriff, who, as you know, is Colonel Ebenezer 



Sproat, holding a drawn sword in his hand, marched with 
a military escort, ahead of the governor, the judges, 
the secretary, and others, to Campus Martins, where 
the court was held. 

There are Indians in plenty about Marietta, and 
Parson Cutler said that when these savages saw Colonel 
Sproat, who as you know is an unusually tall man. 



62 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 




they at once gave him the name of Hetuck, or Big 
Buckeye, which was the same as if they had called 
him one of the huge trees of the forest. 



MASTER DEVOLL'S HOUSE 

Nor was the growth of our town of Marietta the 
only thing concerning which the good man told us, for 
he gladdened Mistress Devoll's heart by describing to 
her the house her husband was building, which was to 
be forty feet long by eighteen feet wide, and the height 
of two stories. 

Best of all, there was to be a brick chimney, perhaps 
more than one, as soon as a kiln had been made and 
the bricks burned. It was to be by far the largest 



THE INDIAN MOUNDS 63 

building, with the exception of Campus Martius, in 
the town. 

THE INDIAN MOUNDS 

Parson 'Cutler told us during that night, when we sat 
around him at Reading, about queer-shaped mounds 
of earth in various forms, which had evidently been 
thrown up many hundred years before, perhaps by the 
Indians, perhaps' by some race of people regarding 
whom we know nothing; but certain it is there were 
very many about Marietta. In fact. Campus Martins 
was built on one of these mounds. 

These embankments, as they might really be called, 
are of various shapes, some like serpents, many, many 
hundred feet long and I can't say how many feet 
high, and of such huge proportions that they may be 
seen from a long distance. There is one, we were 
told, shaped something after the fashion of an ele- 
phant; others are formed in circles, and still others 
appear to have been made for fortifications. 

When we went to bed that night Ben Cushing and 
I talked until well past midnight concerning what 
these things might have been, and he announced that 
it was his intention to dig beneath them, believing there 
he would find much in the way of treasure ; but when 
he saw the enormous embankments, he soon reahzed 
that neither one man nor twenty could make much 
headway digging beneath them. 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO 5 



64 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

I heard General Putnam say it was his behef these 
mounds had something to do with the rehgious cere- 
monies of those who had built them ; that they had a 
certain significance in the worship of the Great Spirit ; 
but as for there being treasure beneath them, he laughed 
at the idea. 

If I should set down all Parson Cutler told us on that 
night concerning the country to which we were going, 
I might never get further in my story, for the good 
man talked long and fast, describing so many things 
of interest, such as the trapping of turkeys, the hunt- 
ing of bears, and the different methods of killing deer, 
that my hair would be gray before I could write it all 
out fairly. 

Therefore, instead of attempting to repeat his stories, 
I will go on with my tale of how we journeyed from 
Massachusetts into the Ohio country. 

AT HARRISBURG 

It was near the close of October when we arrived at 
the Susquehanna River, at a settlement called Harris- 
burg, and a very slovenly looking town it was, as I 
thought, for those who built it, only two years before, 
had thus far not taken the trouble to uproot the stumps 
of trees which still stood in the roadways and gave the 
entire place a wild, neglected appearance. 

I was told that the settlement had formerly been 



AT HARRISBURG 



65 



called Louisburg, and the only reason I can think of 
for the change of name is that there can be found a 
ferry in charge of a man named Harris, and before any 
houses were built near by it was known as Harris's Ferry. 
We remained at this place all night, the women and 
children going into a log tavern to sleep, while we men 




and boys made our beds in the wagons, or on the hay 
in the stable, as best pleased us. 

Because of not caring to spend so much money as 
would be necessary to buy a supper for all our company, 
only the women and small children partook of the 
tavern fare, the older girls, the men, and we boys 
eating our meals in the tavern yard, after having cooked 
them in the tavern kitchen. 



66 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

The next day's journey was only thirteen miles, and 
then we arrived at Carlisle, which was a military 
station during our war for independence, and where 
were yet to be found barracks made of bricks, like 
regular houses. There were two or three shops, and 
a number of good dwellings, better than one would 
expect to find even in a town that had been settled so 
long. 

Because we had not been fed overabundantly since 
leaving that farmhouse where we feasted on buck- 
wheat cakes. Master Rouse decided that we should 
all have dinner at the tavern, and a bountiful meal it 
was, although not quite so satisfactory to me as I 
could have wished, because of the fact that just then 
Isaac Barker took it into his head to play what he 
considered a funny trick. 

ISAAC barker's sport 

When a huge platter of meat was being brought on 
the table, and we were all looking at it with most pleas- 
ant anticipations, for it appeared to have been cooked 
to a turn, Isaac seized the dish in both hands, ran out 
of the room as if intending to eat it all himself, and the 
older girls followed him, racing around and around 
the building with shouts of mirth, while the tavern 
keeper and his wife looked on in amazement, until 
Isaac tired of running. 



UNCLE DANIEL CARTER 



67 



Then he replaced the meat on the table ; but by this 
time it had grown cold, and instead of having hot 
venison steak, we were forced to eat lukewarm meat, 




and it is not needed that I should say anything con- 
cerning the disagreeable flavor of deer flesh when it 
has been kept too long from the fire. 

There are times when one really wearies of Isaac's 
sport, and, as Ben Gushing said when we drove away 
from Carhsle, a Httle fun now and then is relished by 
the saddest of men ; but when one keeps it up from 
morning until night, and again from night until morn- 
ing, it grows wearisome. 

UNCLE DANIEL CARTER 

When we left Carlisle it was to journey to a settle- 
ment called Big Springs, where, much to our surprise 
and delight, we came upon Uncle Daniel Carter with 



68 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



his three yoke of oxen hitched to a Conestoga wagon, 
and having as a load all uncle Daniel's household goods 
/ as well as his family. 

Uncle Daniel was an old acquaint- 
ance of ours, for he 
V ., . lived but a few miles 
-^ '■ from Mattapoisett 
and had started for 
Ohio some two weeks be- 
'\ fore we left home. 

There had been no ex- 
pectation in our minds that we 
should meet him on the journey, 
for it was believed that, moving 
as slowly as he must with his 
ox team, he, if not his wife, 
would grow weary of attempt- 
ing to gain the Ohio country, 
and turn off at some inviting-looking point long before 
having arrived thus far in Pennsylvania. 

But the old man was not made of such stuff ; he had 
set out to join Rufus Putnam's company at Marietta, 
and declared that he would continue on if it took a 
year to make the trip. 

What a meeting that was with the old man and his 
family ! It was like coming upon Mattapoisett sud- 
denly. I had never before realized how much affection 




UNCLE DANIEL JOINS OUR COMPANY 69 

one may unwittingly have for his neighbors, until we 
saw Uncle Daniel outside the log hut where he had 
stopped for the night, watching us with an odd expres- 
sion on his face as if doubting whether we should 
recognize him. 



UNCLE DANIEL JOINS OUR COMPANY 

Mistress Carter insisted that she and her two 
daughters prepare the evening meal for all our company, 

^ ^ and it seemed much as if 
_ we were doing her the 
greatest favor, when 
we consented joyfully 
to share what we had 
every reason to 




beHeve was a goodly portion of Uncle Daniel's scanty 
store of food. 



70 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

When the meal was ended, Isaac and Ben Gushing 
built a lively fire outside the hut, for the night was 
chilly, and with the children wrapped in their warmest 
garments, all of us sat, or stretched out at full length, 
around the cheering blaze, listening to Uncle Daniel's 
story of his journey, or telling him of that which had 
happened to us since we left home. 

Before we crawled into the wagons that night it was 
decided, and without any controversy, that Uncle 
Daniel should join our company, the only question 
being as to whether the horses would not travel so 
much faster than his oxen that we could not well keep 
together. 

The old man put an end to any speculation of that 
kind, however, by declaring that when night came we 
should find him not far behind us, and he laid plans 
for the journey of future days, by saying that we were 
to give no heed whatsoever to him in the morning; 
he would feed his cattle and be off, most-like before 
break of day. 

''I'll be on hand when it's time for supper, an' don't 
make any mistake about that part of it," he said 
cheerily. "I'm willin' to agree that my creeters can't 
walk as fast as your horses ; but they can keep it up a 
good while longer, an' you'll find it's the slow an' 
steady that comes out ahead in the long run. So 
look for your Uncle Daniel before sunset, an' if he fails 



HARD TRAVELING 



71 



to show up, then you can set it down as a fact that his 
wagon has gone to smash, or the oxen have turned tail 
for Massachusetts." 



HARD TRAVELING 

Next morning Ben Gushing would have it that we had 
come upon bad luck in meeting Uncle Daniel, for at 
daybreak the rain came down in torrents, and speedily 
the roads, which were none of the best even in dry 




weather, became like quagmires. Before we were well 
on our way the wheels of the heavy wagons sank deep 
in the mud ; the women were forced to remain under 
the covers or withstand the pelting of the rain, and we 
men, who walked alongside in order to help the horses 
with their loads, were speedily drenched to the skin. 



72 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

Mistress DevoU would have insisted that we turn 
back and remain at the log shanty until the rain ceased ; 
but both Captain Haskell and Master Rouse put an 
end to any such proposition by saying that now had 
come the season when we might rightly expect storms, 
and if we were to delay our journey save at such times 
as the weather was fair, winter would overtake us 
among the mountains where we might find it impos- 
sible either to go ahead or to retreat. 

Therefore we plodded on, and instead of overtaking 
Uncle Daniel, as Ben Gushing had predicted we should, 
before noon, we saw nothing of him until night came. 
Then there was no bad luck in having a cheery blaze 
in the fireplace of a log tavern, and every arrangement 
possible made for our comfort, to all of which the old 
man had attended before looking after his own 
comfort. 

MUD AND WATER 

It seemed to me as if the rain fell incessantly, and 
you can fancy what the roads were after eight and forty 
hours had elapsed. 

In Massachusetts we would have said that they were 
impassable at the best, and now they had been con- 
verted into veritable swamps by the downpour of 
water, or filled in places with blocks of sandstone over 
which the wagons could not cross save we all put our 



MUD AND WATER 



73 



shoulders to the hinder part helping the horses along, 
unless we stopped to clear away the obstacles. 

Again the ascents were so steep that the horses from 
both wagons must be hitched to one in order to get it 
up the hill, and 
when we came 
to the other 
side it was nec- 
essary to put 
locked chains on 
the wheels, and, in 
addition, fasten large 
logs or tree tops to the 
back of the vehicles that 
they might drag behind 
and thus prevent us from 
going ahead too swiftly. *^ 

And all this was done in a 
heavy downpour of rain, when 
the women and girls must of 
necessity remain under cover, except 
at such times as it was absolutely 
necessary for them to alight in order 
to lessen the load. 

As if to add to our discomfort, two of the animals 
began to show signs of faltering, and Ben Gushing told 
me confidentially one night when we were halted in the 




74 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

foothills, with no shelter save the body of the wagon, 
and doing our utmost to keep a fire burning amid the 
rain, that it was his belief we should not succeed in 
gaining the river before the poor beasts were entirely 
worn out. 

The way lay over a succession of sharp rises and yet 
sharper descents, with the road in places falling off so 
much to one side that we were obliged to fasten ropes 
to the tops of the wagons, and all of us men lay hold, 
to prevent them from oversetting. 

Such work as this might be necessary more than 
once in half a mile, we all the while wading knee-deep 
in the mire, and at times finding it difficult to raise 
our feet because of the mud. 

A STORM OF SNOW 

Then came the time when the rain changed to snow, 
and you can weU fancy that if the road was well-nigh 
impassable before, it was soon in such a condition that 
one might say it would be impossible to go farther. 

Even the children were forced to get out and walk 
again and again, and I have seen Mistress Devoll and 
Mistress Rouse stop many a time to pick up their 
shoes which had been pulled from their feet by the 
clinging mud. 

Fancy such traveling while the snow came down like 
feathers, weighting every branch of the trees and 



A STORM OF SNOW 



75 



every bush until they stood far out over the narrow 
roadway, shedding their frosty burdens upon the 
passer-by ! 

It seemed to me that I could see the horses grow 
weaker with each mile we advanced, and when night 
came, after we had 
traveled no more 
than six or eight 
miles at the expense 
of the most severe 
labor, it was as 
much as we could 
do to keep them 
on their feet until 
the harness was re- 
moved. 

This was the time 
when Uncle Daniel 
had the advantage 
of us, for his oxen 
plowed their way 
through the mire, 
giving apparently no more heed to the weight of the 
wagon than if it had been a child's toy cart, and 
again and again did the old man unyoke the patient 
beasts in order to bring them back, at times more than 
half a mile over a hard road, to help one or the other 




76 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



of our wagons out of the mud, when, but for his assis- 
tance, they might have stayed there until the crack of 
doom, so deeply were the wheels embedded. 

I can look back upon many days we spent while 
journeying from Massachusetts to the Ohio country 
with the greatest pleasure; but never do I think of 
the time passed among the foothills, when the weather 




was so bitter and the way so hard, without real mental 
distress, for that journey, during at least eight days, 
was more like some horrible nightmare than a reality. 



ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 

If I were to make any attempt at describing our 
passage across the Blue Mountains, the Middle and 
the Tuscarora Mountains, it would simply be to repeat 
what I have already set down. Never once did we 
find a bit of the road where there was easy travel- 
ing, and it seemed to me that either the rain or the 
snow fell incessantly, until, wearied to the verge of 



ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS 



77 



exhaustion by day, we were forced to remain half frozen 
and wet to the skin from night until morning. 

The women and children, if we camped at night where 
there were no houses in which to take shelter, slept in 
the wagons, while the men and boys made shift as best 




they might beneath the carts, getting such warmth as 
could be had under the few blankets at their disposal 
and the fires built close by, which were not of much 
avail because we could find no dry fuel with which to 
feed them. 

Then came a day which I remember more vividly 
than any other of all that long journey, when we 
descended the last of the Tuscarora Range, and came 
to a fruitful valley, which we afterward learned was 



78 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

called Ahwick, where was a small settlement, while 
here and there, when we were on the higher land, 
could be seen farms which one might almost say were 
ready for planting, despite the snow that yet lay deep 
among the hills. 

Master Rouse's wagon was leading the way and 
Uncle Daniel with his plodding oxen brought up the 
rear. It was Saturday night; we expected to remain 
at least two days, at the first place where we might 
sleep in comfort, and it w^as necessary we find housing 
for all, which might not be possible at the small log 
tavern we had heard would be found on the road a 
short distance away. 

A FRIENDLY DUNKARD 

Therefore our party came to a halt at the first 
promising-looking house, and Master Rouse set about 
learning what we might expect in the way of enter- 
tainment. 

The farm was owned by a German named Christian 
Hiples, who was of that religious persuasion known as 
Dunkard, and a right friendly gentleman he proved 
to be. 

It really appeared to give him pain because he could 
not take all our company in and give us the comforts 
of home ; but it seemed to me that he was doing even 
more than his share when he agreed that Master Rouse 



A FRIENDLY DUNKARD 



79 



and the members of his party should remain there, 
while the others of us continued on to the tavern. 

I regretted sorely that it was not my good fortune 
to be one of Master Hiples's guests, for I had heard 
much concerning 
these people who 
call themselves 
Dunkards, during 
our traveling 
through the state, 
and was most eager- 
to see them at 
home. 

Captain Haskell 
had told me that 
the Dunkards were 
Baptists who had 
been driven from 
Germany early in 
the eighteenth cen- 
tury, when they took refuge in Pennsylvania, 
as I could find out, their religion consists in condemn- 
ing warfare, and setting their faces against suits at 
law. They have a peculiar belief regarding baptism, 
which Captain Haskell said has to do with triple im- 
mersion. They wash each others' feet before the 
Lord's Supper, and give to all members of their faith 




So far 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO- 



8o , BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

what is called the kiss of charity. It is in their eyes 
almost the same as a sin to dress other than plainly 
and cleanly, and from what I saw of Master Hiples's 
house during the short time we halted in front of it, I 
came to believe that cleanliness of home and its sur- 
roundings is one of the articles of their belief, for I 
had not seen so pleasing a place since we came out of 
Massachusetts. 

When Master Rouse's family were thus comfortably 
housed, Mistress Devoll's team, with Uncle Daniel's 
oxen plodding patiently behind, continued on to a log 
tavern a short distance away, and the contrast between 
this place and that where Master Rouse's people were 
staying was so great that for the first time since 
leaving Mattapoisett, I was nearly homesick. 



MASTER HIPLES S KINDNESS 

We had comfortable quarters, if one judges comfort 
by being' sheltered from the rain and having sufficient 
heat ; but it was far from pleasant at the inn, and as 
soon as the horses had been properly cared for, I, 
despite the fact that my legs were weary with long 
traveling, ran back down the road to gaze with envy 
on Master Rouse and his family. 

The old German was a kindly-faced man, with a 
long, white beard extending to his waist, and a voice 



MASTER HIPLES'S KINDNESS 



8i 



as mild and gentle as any woman's. He had five or 
six grown daughters, and when I got back to the farm 
these young women were doing all they might for the 
comfort of the guests, without hope or expectation of 
being paid for the labor. 

There was, just outside the house, a huge brick oven 
in the open air, and these young women, aided by their 




father, were already heating it as if for a cooking bee. 
Sally DevoU told me it was their intention to bake a 
large quantity of bread to be given to us when we set 
off once more on our journey. 

Therefore I came to have a friendly liking for these 
Dunkards, and before we left Ahwick Valley I was 
fully persuaded they were what might truthfully be 
called the salt of the earth. 



82 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

A SURLY LANDLORD 

When I got back to the log tavern there was con- 
siderable going on in the way of excitement. The 
landlord, who had but one eye, having lost the other, 
so we heard, during a fight when he was a younger man, 
was anything but gentle in manners, and his appear- 
ance was such that one felt as if the lightest word 
would provoke harsh treatment. 

Now it so chanced that the racks in his stable had 
been built by nailing slats up and down at the end of 
the stalls, and into the places thus formed the hay was 
thrown from the loft. 

Isaac Barker and Ben Gushing were both very 
careful to see that their teams were well fed, and more 
particularly was it necessary now since we had with 
us two horses that were ailing. 

When the animals were put into the stalls, after 
having been groomed and their coats dried, Isaac found 
that while the innkeeper intended to charge us for a 
certain amount of hay, the slats at the end of the stalls 
were placed so closely together that the poor beasts 
could not get a single wisp, struggle as they might. 

Without delay he went to the landlord and told him 
that some different arrangement must be made in 
regard to the racks, if our company was expected to 
pay for hay. 



ISAAC FLOGS THE LANDLORD 83 

The innkeeper declared that he would conduct his 
tavern as best pleased him ; the hayracks had been 
built by him, and built to suit him, therefore they 
would remain as they were. If our horses and oxen 
were stabled there, then would we pay so much money 
for each head on account of hay, whether they got it 
or not, the surly man claiming it was no fault of his 
if the animals were unable to get what was before 
them. 

You can well fancy that Isaac's temper was aroused 
by this injustice, and straightway he told the man 
what he thought of such dealing, claiming that unless 
the landlord himself was willing to remedy matters at 
once, he would take the affair into his own hands. 

ISAAC FLOGS THE LANDLORD 

The landlord threatened, so Uncle Daniel said, to 
punish severely whoever dared to damage his property, 
and I arrived just at the time when Isaac, with a heavy 
ax, was breaking out every other slat in the racks, 
thereby giving the beasts ample opportunity to feed, 
the innkeeper meanwhile standing outside as if it was 
his purpose to lay hands on Isaac the moment he left 
the stable. 

As we afterwards learned, the man had been con- 
sidered, in his younger days, a skillful fighter, and most 
likely believed there were few who could stand against 



84 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



him, so he had no doubt about his abihty to punish 
Isaac. 

I had never heard that Isaac was noted for skill with 
his fists, and believed he was likely to suffer severely, 

if the landlord should at- 
tack him. I therefore 
entreated Uncle Daniel 
to stand by with 
me in order to lend 
assistance, for I 
was not minded that one 
of our company come to 
grief at that place. 

Uncle Daniel grimly 
said that Isaac Barker 
could take care of him- 
self, and that he was not 
fond of interfering, unless 
it was absolutely neces- 
sary in order to save life. 
Therefore, instead of appearing concerned. Uncle 
Daniel quietly took up his station near the door of the 
stable, where he stood whittling a bit of pine stick, 
while the innkeeper raged furiously, and Isaac con- 
tinued to break out the slats until he had completed 
the task. 

Then he came out of the last stall where he had 




A MUCH NEEDED LESSON 



85 



been working, threw the ax on the floor without very 
much regard as to how it might fall, and began in a 
businesslike way to roll up his sleeves, keeping an eye 
meanwhile on the movements of the landlord. 

The two came together while I was waiting to see 
how they might begin the battle, and in a twinkling, 
as it seemed to me, both were rolling here and there 
about the stable floor, but in such a manner that one 
with half an eye could see Isaac was 
, by no means getting the worst of it. 



A MUCH NEEDED LESSON 

As a matter of fact he flogged that 
miserly inn-keeper severely, never let- 
ting up until the feUow cried that 
he had had enough; then 
Isaac said that he counted 
to be back that way in 
the spring, and if the 
slats in the hayracks 
had been replaced, he 
would give him an- 
other flogging com- 
pared with which 
this one would seem 
like child's play. 
I confess that I 




86 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



was frightened even after Isaac had acquitted himself 
in such a manly fashion, for I believed the landlord 
would contrive in some way to make the remainder of 
our party suffer for what had been done ; but, strange 
as it may seem, he was as mild as one could desire, 
and instead of moving about in a surly fashion, find- 
ing fault with everything, as he had done when we 
first arrived, the fellow seemed striving earnestly to do 

all he might for our 
welfare, whereupon 
Uncle Daniel grimly 
observed that ''all 
he needed in order 
to make him a 
decent kind of a 
man was a sound 
flogging every 
morning." 

I would not 
recommend this 
method of insuring 
good treatment 
from landlords in 
general ; but I must say I was sorry Isaac had not 
been sufficiently provoked some time before, that he 
might have tried the same treatment upon some of 
those innkeepers who had been so surly to us. In 




A TIME OF REST 87 

fact we met more than one so-called landlord during 
our journey across the state of Pennsylvania, by the 
side of whom one of Uncle Daniel's oxen would have 
appeared gentlemanly. 

On Sunday, all of us, even including Isaac Barker, 
went to meeting with Master Hiples's family, and not 
only were repaid by hearing a goodly discourse, but 
received an invitation to take supper with the good 
Dunkard's family. 

A TIME OF REST 

The meal was an enjoyable one, although I fear, as I 
told Ben Gushing, that he and I came very near dis- 
gracing, not only ourselves, but all our companions, by 
eating more than was seemly. 

It was the most pleasant Sunday we had spent since 
leaving Mattapoisett, and a day that seemed more 
fitting for goodly thoughts than any other I could 
remember. As Uncle Daniel said when we stretched 
ourselves out to sleep on the floor of the stable, the 
two rooms in the tavern having been given up to the 
women and children, it had been a very profitable 
time. 

Monday also was a profitable day, for then Master 
Hiples's daughters worked with a will, making bread in 
such quantities that one might have thought they 
counted on provisioning an army, and all our women 



88 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

folks did what they could to assist, while we boys and 
men cut and lugged fuel, so that we might not draw 
too heavily upon the old German's store of wood. 

That night, when it was known we were to set off 
next day. Master Hiples laid out a large supply of 
vegetables for all our company, and this was a gift, in 
addition to the bread, since he refused to take payment 
therefor, asking only as much in the way of money as 
would suffice to pay for the grain and the hay eaten 
by Master Rouse's horses. 

Thanks to this friendly German, we were well sup- 
plied with food when we left Ahwick Valley, Tuesday 
morning, and flattered ourselves with the belief that 
the greater portion of the hardships were passed, for 
the ailing horses seemed to be much improved, and 
traveled with no Httle spirit, thus causing us to believe 
they were rapidly recovering from their sickness. 

During three days we journeyed over roads that 
were far from good, save by comparison with those w^e 
found while crossing the mountains, and then we came 
to the town of Bedford. We had in the meanwhile 
crossed Sidehng Hill, and forded some of the main 
branches of the Juniata, not without considerable 
difficulty and the assistance of Uncle Daniel's oxen, 
for the fords were deep, and in some cases the bed of 
the river so soft that had a wagon remained still ever 
so short a time, it would surely have been mired. 



PACK TRAINS 



89 



PACK TRAINS 



During the last three days we had seen evidences 
that in this wild country there was being carried on 
business of various kinds, for after leaving Ahwick 
Valley we met here 
and there on the road 
long lines of pack 
horses, loaded with 
furs and ginsing, a 
root somewhat like a 
potato, except that 
it has branches or 
roots shooting out 
from the upper part, 
and is sent by our 
merchants to China, 
where it is considered 
very valuable as a 
medicine. There 
were other pack 
horses loaded with salt, or bales of dry goods and 
groceries, which were being carried to the traders of 
Pittsburgh. 

These pack trains, as Uncle Daniel called them, were 
very interesting. The foremost horse wore bells, and 
it was he, rather than the driver, who had charge of 




90 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

the beasts, and who did the guiding, for he went on as 
inteUigently as could a human being, the remainder 
of the train, usually nine or ten horses, following him 
obediently. 

Because there were no roads across the state of 
Pennsylvania from Carlisle to Pittsburgh over which 
heavily loaded wagons could pass, we were told that 
all the traffic was carried on by pack horses, and it 
was considered that one man could care for no more 
than ten animals. 

One night, when we were told by the landlord of a 
small tavern about these pack trains. Uncle Daniel 
said that we had best put aside from our minds all 
thought of buying anything at Pittsburgh, for if all the 
goods were carried there on horseback, then the charges 
must be so heavy that ordinary people could not 
afford to pay that which the merchants would 
demand. 

A NIGHT ADVENTURE 

On the day of leaving Bedford we had our most 
disagreeable adventure. About four miles beyond 
that town the road divided, one trail leading directly 
to Pittsburgh, and the other to Sumrill's Ferry on the 
Youghiogheny River, which last was the path we 
must take, because it was the place where the May- 
flower had been built, and there we proposed to take 



A NIGHT ADVENTURE 



9i 



boat for Marietta in order to avoid the wearisome 
traveling on foot. 

The women and children had been walking for some 
time, owing to the miry road, and on coming to this 
place, they decided to remain there awhile in order to 

rest. It so chanced that Isaac 
Barker took it into his head to 
loiter with them, leaving Cap- 
tain Haskell to drive his team. 
Master Rouse also stayed be- 
hind, for no reason that any 
one could give; thus we went 
on without them. 




never doubting 
but that within 
an hour they 
would overtake 
us, for ac- 
cording to 
the rate 
we had 
been trav- 
eling, those who were on foot could speedily come up 
with our jaded horses who were having all they could 
do to pull the wagons. 

Uncle Daniel had on this day, as during the last two 
or three days, outstripped us with his slowly moving 



^sa^i*- 



92 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

oxen, because they continued on steadily, being so 
strong that the wagon, which was loaded as heavily 
as either of ours, was not mired. 

The hours passed, and we still remained in advance, 
with no sign of the coming of the women and children, 
yet nothing strange was thought of it at the time, and 
when I spoke of the matter to Ben Gushing as if it 
might be serious, he laughed at me, declaring that a 
foot passenger could make his way without difficulty. 

About half an hour before sunset we came to a 
small log hut which was called an inn by the man 
who owned it. It had but one room, which served 
alike as kitchen, barroom and a place in which to 
sleep ; but there was shelter for the tired beasts 
in the stable, and a huge fireplace wherein we might 
pile fuel to our heart's content. We were therefore 
not disposed to find fault. 

We toasted ourselves well before the fire, wondering 
meanwhile how soon we might be able to satisfy our 
hunger ; for we could not have supper until the women 
came to cook it, this inn being only a housing place. 

FEARS ABOUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN 

One hour passed, and even Captain Haskell began 
to show signs of anxiety. Another sixty minutes went 
by without bringing our companions ; but after a 
third hour. Captain Haskell declared that some misad- 



FEARS ABOUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN 93 



venture must have befallen them, and set off over the 
road we had just traveled, refusing to allow any of us 
to accompany him. ^ 

It was nearly mid- 
night before the cap- 
tain and the other 
members of our 
party arrived. The 
poor children could 
hardly drag one foot 
after the other, and 
the women looked 
as if nothing save 
the fear of remain- 
ing in the open air 
during the hours of darkness had forced them to con- 
tinue the journey. 

While Ben Gushing an,d I were cooking supper, for 
the girls and the women were far too weary to do any 
work at the time, we learned that the party had halted 
at the dividing of the ways much longer than they 
realized, and it was nearly nightfall before the journey 
was continued. 

Then, when the sun had set, it was impossible for 
them to make their way along the faintly outlined 
road, save by clutching the bushes on either side, and 
even then they strayed again and again into the thicket, 




94 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



until, what with this additional traveling and the exer- 
tion of plowing their way through the mire, all save 
Isaac Barker were plunged into a most gloomy, 
disagreeable frame of 
mind. 

Mistress Devoll declared 
that but for him who ;^, 
made sport 
when 




the difficulties were the worst, and sang loudly when 
the others of the company were too thoroughly ex- 
hausted even to speak, they could not have con- 
tinued. 

One can well fancy how welcome to them was the 
fire in the log tavern. The smaller children stretched 
themselves out at full length on the puncheon floor in 
front of the blaze, while their mothers and sisters gave 
no heed to anything save the delicious sensation of 
being able to rest, enjoying to the utmost, I dare say. 



DESCENDING THE MOUNTAINS 



95 



the feeling of security which came to them on arriving 
at that inn. 



DESCENDING THE MOUNTAINS 

Despite the fact that none of our company had had 
sufficient sleep, we continued our journey as soon after 
daybreak as we could, and it was during this day that 
our hearts were cheered 
b}^ what might seem to 
some people a foolish 
thing. 

On either side of 
the road could be 
seen the little green 
leaves and bright scarlet 
berries of the partridge 
vine, or checkerberry 
plant, such as we all 
had seen each year 
roundabout Mattapoi- 
sett, and it had such a 
homelike appearance that it was as if we had suddenly 
come upon a friend. The small children loitered 
behind the wagons to pick the tiny red berries, while 
the girls chewed the aromatic leaves, and more than one 
of the men followed their example, for it was like being 
in Massachusetts again after a long disagreeable dream. 




BENJAMIN OF OHIO" 



96 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

The log inii at which we had slept the night previous 
was evidently built on what is generally called the. 
"height of the land," for now we were descending the 
Allegheny Mountains, cheered by the fact that the 
streams of water from the springs ran with us along our 
road, telling that we had come to where the greater 
portion of the remainder of the journey would be on 
descending ground. These streams were to accompany 
us on our way now, instead of running in the opposite 
direction as during all the time we had been among the 
foothills. 

AT THE FOOT OF THE HILLS 

When we had come to the base of the mountains we 
found ourselves on a broad, level range, which was 
called ''The Glades." Captain Haskell said it had 
very much the appearance of a prairie. If this be true, 
which I have no reason to doubt, then I have no desire 
to see a prairie ; for The Glades was a most forlorn 
place, being but sparsely dotted with trees and covered 
with a coarse grass, at which even the oxen turned up 
their noses. 

Then, having slept in the open two nights, we came 
to Laurel Ridge, which bounds the western side of 
The Glades, and must have been so named because of 
the laurel which grows in such profusion on the rocky 
cliffs. 



AT THE FOOT OF THE HILLS 



97 



Now we were torced to climb once more over a road 
quite as rough as any we had come upon, and again all 
the women and the children were forced to walk, much 
to their discomfort, for on this ridge the snow had fallen 
in large quantities. Every one was soon wet to the 
knees, and plodding through the snow and mud ren- 
dered walking quite as difficult as any we had yet 
experienced. 

On this day the women and children, remembering 
what had occurred just after we left Bedford, went 
on ahead of the wagons. When the afternoon was 




about half spent they came upon a stream of water at 
the western foot of the ridge, which was far too deep for 
them to ford, therefore they were obHged to wait until 
we came up. 



98 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

Luckily for them, however, there was a small log 
house near by the road in which dwelt a motherly- 
looking Irish woman, and with her our people visited, 
much to their pleasure and comfort, until we arrived. 

Because of the difficulties in the way, the wagons 
did not come to the stream until nearly nightfall ; but 
then the passage was quickly made, and we hurried 
on two miles farther, to where was an inn, said to be as 
good as any other to be found between Sumrill's Ferry 
and Carlisle. 

NEARING THE END OF THE JOURNEY 

Next day we crossed Chestnut Ridge, the last 
of the hills, and so named because of the wondrous 
growth of chestnut trees which just then were yielding 
up their fruit to the nipping frost. Our children and 
girls filled their pockets with the nuts, while more than 
once all three of the wagons were halted that we might 
lay in a store of what would^ on a pinch, serve as 
food. 

We had climbed mountain after mountain, crossed 
ridge after ridge, until it seemed as if all the earth was a 
succession of ascents and descents ; we had waded knee- 
deep through mire or snow, and literally fought our way 
along all that weary distance from Mattapoisett to the 
Youghiogheny River, until we had come to Sumrill's 
Ferry, where it was believed we could make arrange- 



NEARING THE END OF THE JOURNEY 99 



ments for a more comfortable ^Ibntinuation of the long 
journey. 

Well it was that we arrived at this time, which 
was near the last of November, with winter close at 



hand, for the two 




horses which had 
been ailing now 
seemingly grew 
worse, and during 
the eight and forty 
hours before our 
arrival at the 
ferry, they were 
hardly more than 
able to keep their 
feet, let alone 



doing any portion of the pulling. 

I beheve that a few days more of travehng would 
have killed them, and indeed they were hardly more 



lOO 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



than dead beasts when v^^ took them out of the harness 
at the ferry, congratulating ourselves upon having 
come thus far on our journey without mishap. 



AT SUMRILL's ferry 

Here we learned of those people who went out from 
Danvers and Hartford. We saw where they built the 
Mayflower J and, in fact, we lodged at the very inn where 
some of them had lived while making ready for the 

journey down the 
river. 

Sumrill's Ferry is 
not a large settle- 
ment, but a thriv- 
ing one. Here were 
boat builders, ready 
to make any kind 
of craft needed. 

To hear them talk 
of what they be- 
lieved must have 
been our experi- 
ences during the journey, one would have said they 
looked upon us as more than foolish to have ventured so 
much in order to make a settlement in the wild Ohio 
country. 

Before we had been at this settlement an hour, 




PARTING WITH UNCLE DANIEL 



lOI 



Uncle Daniel came upon Benjamin Slocomb and his 
family, who had left Dan vers nearly four weeks before 
we started from Mattapoisett. Master Slocomb had 
waited at the ferry nine days until a boat could be 
finished in a manner to please him, and was on the 
point of setting off when Uncle Daniel saw him. 



PARTING WITH UNCLE DANIEL 

Master Slocomb's craft was not so well loaded but 
that he could, without inconvenience, take on board 
Uncle Daniel's wagon with all its belongings, except 




the oxen, so he 

urged the old 

r^^'— man to finish the journey 

with him, the two having been 

^^s- friends for many a long year. 

The result was that Uncle Daniel parted company 

with us before nightfall, leaving his oxen to our care, 

but taking everything else he owned. 



I02 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

"I'll have a farm picked out for you folks, an' made 
ready to plow," the old man cried cheerily, as Master 
Slocomb's clumsy craft was poled out into the current. 
All our company stood on the river's bank watching the 
departure, and really sorry to part with our fellovv^ 
traveler, who had always shown himself willing to lend 
a hand when it was needed, without regard to the 
labor. 

We called after him until he was beyond earshot, 
Isaac Barker cracking jokes as usual, and then we set 
about making arrangements for our own journey down 
the river. 

OUR FLATBOAT 

There were several boats already built and for sale, 
and Master Rouse and Captain Haskell decided upon 
one which was not yet finished, so far as the accommo- 
dations for passengers were concerned, since it had 
no roof. It was by far the best craft, to my thinking, 
of all we saw there. 

It was about forty feet long and twelve feet wide, 
of ample size and depth to carry all our wagons, as well 
as our people, to say nothing of as much space as would 
be required in which to house not only our horses, but 
Uncle Daniel's oxen. 

It was not our purpose to take the beasts in the boat 
at that time, but rather to send them across the land 



OUR FLATBOAT 103 

to a settlement called Buffalo, at the mouth of Buffalo 
Creek, fifty-three miles from the ferry, whereas the 
distance was considerably more than a hundred miles 
by the waterway. 

This was to be done not simply because we wanted 
to avoid the labor of caring for them, but because the 
Youghiogheny River was so shallow at that season of 
the year that a boat drawing more than eighteen or 
twenty inches of water could not float upon it. 

The craft which Captain Haskell and Master Rouse 
had bought would draw, perhaps, seventeen inches with 
all our belongings, save the horses and oxen, on board, 
therefore we would send them across the country in 
charge of Michael Rouse, Isaac Barker, and Ben Cush- 
ing, counting to take them up when we came to Buffalo 
Creek, for there the river was deeper, the current 
swifter, and we should have no difficulty in carrying 
them. 

A great time we had of it, packing our goods into 
the boat in a way to economize every inch of space, 
and when this had been done, and we learned how much 
of the craft could be given over to our own use, we set 
about making arrangements for comfort, first by cover- 
ing the stern of the boat with mud to the depth of ten 
or twelve inches, and then building around it a fireplace 
of stone, where the cooking could be done without 
danger of setting fire to the timbers. 



I04 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



THE CATTLE ARE SENT AWAY 

With blankets and sheets we made a covering for 
the after part of our ark, so that the women and 
children would be kept dry in case of a storm. 

When all this had been done, and we had bought as 
much in the way of provisions as could be purchased 
at a reasonable price, Isaac, Michael, 
and Ben set off with the beasts. 

It gave me a homesick feeling to 
see them march away ; we had been 



i 




together so long and had gone through so many hard- 
ships. 

Within half an hour after the horses and oxen, with 
their drivers, had disappeared, we pushed off from the 
shore, and very strange did it seem to be carried along 



THE CATTLE ARE SENT AWAY 



105 



by the current, instead of fighting one's way through 
mud. 

I said to myself that now it was the same as coming 
to the end of our journey, for we had simply to sit still 
and let the river do the work. 

This, however, I soon understood was a mistake, 
for although we were not forced to trudge through 




mud and snow, there was ample work for men and boys 
in holding the clumsy craft out from the shore where 
she was like to go aground, or again, in leaping over- 
board and actually lifting her off some shoal on which 
she had grounded, as it seemed to me, in a very spirit 
of perverseness. 

It is true that we were forced to work quite as hard 
in navigating the boat as when we plodded over the 
miry road, and yet there was this advantage, we were 
able to eat our meals at regular times. 



io6 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

What with rowing and poHng, and now and then 
leaping waist deep into the water to shove her from 
the shoals, we contrived, after a considerable time, to 
get as far as the Monongahela River, where the water 
was deeper and the current swifter, permitting us to 
get some rest now and then, and for the first time since 
leaving Mattapoisett did this journey begin to seem 
pleasing. 

It was Sunday evening when we arrived at Pitts- 
burgh, making our clumsy craft fast to a stake on the 
shore at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela 
Rivers, with the Ohio in full view. 

AT PITTSBURGH 

The town of Pittsburgh, the largest we had seen since 
coming into the state of Pennsylvania, appeared to 
me a most prosperous settlement. There was the 
fort called Pitt, and half a dozen shops, in addition to 
the houses which I was told sheltered about five hun- 
dred people. Therefore you can understand that it 
was indeed a place of considerable consequence. 

It was not so late in the day but that Master Rouse 
and Captain Haskell went up into the town, after our 
boat had been made fast to the stake as I have said, 
in order to attend to some business, for on the frontier 
one does not observe so reUgiously the Sabbath as at 
home, and travelers who must continue their journey 



AT PITTSBURGH 



107 



with as little delay as possible, are allowed to make 
necessary purchases even on Sunday. 

When the two men went on shore there was nothing 
said as to how soon they might come back; but we 




supposed both would return as soon as their business 
was done. 

Therefore the girls at once set about cooking supper ; 
but when the meal was ready our gentlemen were not 
returned, and we waited for them until the corn cake 
was nearly cold, while the fish which we had caught 
during the day were much the worse for having re- 
mained from the fire so long. 

About nine o'clock Mistress Rouse and Mistress 
DevoU decided that the younger children must be fed, 



io8 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

in order that they might be put to bed at a reasonable 
hour, and therefore we ate the meal without waiting 
longer. 

Well it was that we did so, if we counted on satisfy- 
ing our hunger that day, for two hours later the men 
were yet absent, and then Mistress DevoU told me we 
should make our preparations for the night. 

Now you know that this was no small task. The 
beds and bedding were stowed in the wagons during 
the day, and when night came, all must be taken out 
and spread upon the bottom of the boat for the women 
and children, while the boys — and of course I was 
numbered among them — slept in one of the wagons. 

On this night, however, because Captain Haskell 
and Master Rouse had not returned. Mistress Rouse 
believed that I should make my bed at the end of the 
boat near the fireplace, where I could stand guard, 
or, in other words, where I might be ready to do what- 
soever would be needed during the hours of darkness. 

TOO MUCH WATER 

I congratulated myself not a Httle that I w^as to sleep 
upon a very comfortable sack of feathers, which had 
thus far served Captain Haskell. Without giving 
very much heed to the fact that the men yet remained 
in town when there was every reason why they should 
have come back to the boat, I laid myself down, and 



TOO MUCH WATER 



109 



was speedily lost in slumber, for the work during the 
day had been severe, and I was needing rest sorely. 

I may have slept two or three hours, certainly as 
long as that, when suddenly I was awakened by a sense 
of discomfort, and, turning over, was brought to my 
feet very quickly by discovering that the water had 
come in even over the top of my bed. 

I cried out, not from fear, but rather from surprise, 
and on the instant the women, as well as the older girls, 




being awakened, started aft to learn what might be 
the matter, when they plunged nearly to their knees in 
water. 

Straightway the outcry was great, for they, as well 
as I, believed that the boat was sinking beneath us. 

Strangely enough, the women seemed to consider 
that I was able to play the part of a man at such a 



no 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



time, and Mistress Devoll asked in a tone of fear what 
ought to be done. 

During an instant I stood undecided, hardly having 
my wits about me, and then, still believing the clumsy 
craft was going to the bottom, I urged that we get 
on shore as speedily as possible. 



ESCAPE OF THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN 

Fortunately for us the boat had been moored with 
a short hawser, in such a manner that when Captain 
Haskell and Master Rouse left us they could readily 
leap from the gunwale to the land, and after the women 
were gathered on the shoreward side of the boat, 




instead of being obhged to jump, I found that they 
might readily step over the rail without wetting their 



ESCAPE OF THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN iii 



feet in water, although they sank above the tops of 
their shoes in mud. 

Once they had what might be called a firm footing, 
I passed the younger children over, and while doing so 
the twins made a great outcry, whereupon Mistress 
Devoll and Mistress 



Rouse commanded 
them to remain 
quiet. 

Our cries and 
shouts awakened a 
man who proved to 
be of great assist- 
ance. His house 
stood on the shore 
near where our beat 
was moored, and he 
came to the door 
quickly, calling out 
to know what was 
the matter, where- 
upon I told him our 
boat was sinking and that some half-drowned women 
and children were shivering on the shore. 

All of us were soaked to the skin, for we had floun- 
dered about in the water when first awakened, and the 
man cried out that we should remain where we were 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO 8 




112 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

until he could light a lantern and come to our assist- 
ance, which he did in a very short space of time. 

Then, without waiting to learn what might be hap- 
pening to the boat, he insisted that all should go to 
his house, which was hardly more than a hundred paces 
away, and once there he built a big fire in the fireplace, 
after which he proposed that we older boys go with 
him to look after the craft, while the women and chil- 
dren dried their clothing. 

REPAIRING DAMAGES 

When we came to the boat again it was seen that 
there would have been no danger of her sinking, even 
though we remained aboard all night. It seems that 
the river had fallen after we made fast to the shore, 
and the landward side of the boat rested on the river 
bank as the waters receded, thus allowing the outer 
portion of the craft to settle in the stream until the 
water ran through the seams in the planking about the 
gunwale, for they were badly calked, having been 
hurriedly finished by the builders at Sumrill's Ferry 
while we were putting our goods on board. 

There was no possibility of our shoving the huge 
boat into deeper water, therefore the kindly stranger 
awakened some of his neighbors, who, with such small 
aid as I could give, set about taking out the bedding 
and the clothing which had been wetted completely, 



REPAIRING DAMAGES 113 

carrying the stuff up to the house that it might be dried, 
and this work served to keep us busy until sunrise, 
when Master Rouse and Captain Haskell came down 
to the shore. 

They had been busy with some people who intended 
to go to Marietta, and were so eager to make certain 




business arrangements that it seemed best to sleep at 
the tavern, rather than return at a late hour to the 
flatboat, and one can readily imagine their surprise 
at finding us with a good third of our cargo on shore. 

The kind man who had labored nearly all night in 
our behalf lived alone in a large log hut, and insisted 
on preparing breakfast for all our company, not even 
allowing the girls to do their share of the work, thereby 
showing himself to be a skillful cook as well as a friendly 
neighbor. 

When Master Rouse would have paid him for his 



114 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



labor, as well as for the food which he had provided, 
the man refused to take a penny, claiming that he had 
done only as he would be done by, and therefore I 
still have a kind feeling in my heart for Pittsburgh. 

Master Rouse, Captain Haskell, and I soon had the 
water bailed out of the fiatboat and the bedding, now 
dried, on board; before the afternoon was more than 
half spent, we were ready to set out on the last stage 
of our long journey. 



OUR PILOT 

We had, however, a new member of the company, 
an old trapper and hunter by the name of Bruce. Our 
gentlemen had met him at the tavern, and learned 

that he was famihar with the 

river, knowing all the shoals, or 

/r.»u l:''M'f^ 9.t least claiming that he did. 




and I have no reason to doubt ^^ 
his statement in view of what 
occurred before we arrived at Marietta. 



OUR PILOT 



IIS 



He had intended to travel in his canoe, which was 
neither more nor less than a dugout, by which I mean 
the trunk of a tree hollowed out to make a shell-like 
craft which would carry a very heavy load. It required 
delicate handling because of its liabiUty to overset in 
case any of the cargo was suddenly shifted. In fact, 
the old hunter laughingly said that if he shifted his 
pipe from one side of his mouth to the other the canoe 
would heel. 

He had with him flour, half a dozen or more sides of 
bacon, a number of beaver traps, his camp kettle and 
equipage, not to speak of his rifle, blankets, "^" 
and ammunition sufficient to last him 
during the winter season, while he was 
in the wilderness far from any other 
human being. 




His canoe was lashed alongside the flatboat and he 
stood at the huge steering oar which swung from the 
stern, or rather from that end of the craft which we 
chose to call the stern, for, it being square at both 
ends, we might as well have called one the bow as the 
other. 



ii6 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



A CHANGE OF WEATHER 



It was about three o'clock when we started. The 
sky was overcast, and there were signs of rain in the 
south, while the wind shifted here and there until 
almost any one might have proved himself a weather 
prophet by predicting a storm. 

Within an hour of sunset the wind swung around to 
the northwest and blew fiercely across the bend of 
the river where we then were, kicking up such a sea 
as to send the crests of the waves over the side of the 
boat, threatening to sink, if not overset, the unwieldy 
craft. 

We men and boys worked at the oars to the best of 
our ability, striving to force the clumsy vessel toward 
the Pennsylvania shore, for the opposite bank, or what 
was called the Indian side, was said to be infested 
with savages who, even though they were supposed 
to be at peace with white people, robbed flatboats and 
killed travelers at every favorable opportunity. 

Master Bruce's huge canoe pounded and thumped 
against the side of the boat until it seemed certain she 
would stave in the planks, and finally, regardless of the 
fact that all his property was on board, the old hunter 
cut her adrift. 

Then, while we rode more easily, the danger was 
lessened but little, for the wind increased in force. 



NOISY FEAR 117 

and the waves grew higher, until all of us boys were 
forced to work at bailing in order to keep the water 
from rising so high as to soak our goods. 

I had not realized that there was any actual danger 
until I heard the old hunter say to Captain Haskell 
that we must take our chances of being attacked by 
the Indians, because it was impossible to force the 
flatboat over to the Pennsylvania shore, therefore we 
ought to make harbor wherever we could. 

NOISY FEAR 

Up to this time the women and the girls had remained 
reasonably quiet, apparently too much frightened to 
make any sound ; but overhearing what Master Bruce 
said regarding the necessity of our taking shelter on 
the Indian shore, they set up a great outcry. 

Captain Haskell and Master Rouse, although they 
were needed at the oars, could do no less than go amid- 
ships where the shrieking ones were gathered, and 
Hterally force them to hold their peace, for it was most 
distracting to hear the noise while we had as much as 
we could do to work the craft. 

The old hunter showed that he knew much regarding 
the handling of such a boat as we were then aboard; 
for in a short time, by skillful pulling at the plank that 
served as rudder, aided by those of us who tugged at 
the oars, she was brought under a high bluff, on the 



ii8 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



Indian side of the river, and there made fast by a hawser 
to trees growing near the water's edge. 

We were no sooner moored than Mistress Devoll 
sprang over the side of the boat to the land, declaring 




that while the storm raged as it did then she would not 
trust herself on board even though the Indians might 
be near, and her example was speedily followed by the 
other women and girls. 

It seemed to me a foolhardy act to go on shore when 
we knew there was danger the Indians might make an 
attack, yet Master Rouse and Captain Haskell held 
their peace, allowing the women to do as they pleased, 
while the old hunter set about putting up a shelter 
for them by means of four poles, with blankets stretched 
across after the fashion of a tent. 

There the women made beds for themselves and the 



A REAL FEAST 



119 



children, rather than go back to the boat, even though 
to my mind it was safely secured and could not come 
to any harm. 

Master Bruce was not content with having done 
this. Just before having landed we saw a thin thread 
of smoke rising from the trees half a mile distant, and 
he set off as soon as the makeshift tent had been put 
up, running the chances of coming upon the savages, 

I , I in order to discover who our neighbors 

]; Igj J/ might be. 

A REAL FEAST 

Now it SO happened, fortunately 
^ for US, that the smoke had come 
-^-^ from the camp of white men, 
and of them Bruce begged, 
or bought, half of a fat 
deer, broiling enough 
steaks on the coals 
to satisfy the hunger 
of the younger mem- 
bers of the party, 
while he roasted a 
goodly portion, hun- 
ter-fashion, on a 
hickory skewer stuck up in the earth in front of the 
fire. 




120 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

The girls made coffee and corn bread, and we feasted 
that night. 

Captain Haskell and I went on board the boat to 
sleep, and I was not sorry we did so, for before morn- 
ing another storm came up, and when we looked out 
from beneath the wagon covers, after sunrise, snow 
covered the ground to the depth of two inches. 

The sun was shining brightly ; the wind .had died 
away until there was not sufficient air stirring to hft a 
feather, and nothing prevented us from continuing 
the journey without delay, which we did, the girls broil- 
ing venison steaks in our fireplace at the stern of the 
boat while we sailed along. 

Master Bruce told us we might take no little credit 
to ourselves, for we most likely were the first white 
people to venture on the Indian shore and remain 
there all night, since Pittsburgh had become a town. 

FINDING THE CANOE 

It surprised me not a little because the old hunter 
failed to mourn the loss of his canoe, for on board 
was all his equipment for the winter's work, and, hav- 
ing lost it, he must go back to Pittsburgh to replenish 
his stores and procure another craft. 

However, it is folly for one to worry and fret over 
that which cannot be avoided. Master Bruce might 



FINDING THE CANOE 



121 



have made himself miserable bewailing the loss of his 
goods and nothing would have been changed. 

Near noon we saw the craft on the Pennsylvania 
side of the river, where it had been blown by the wind, 
lying there comfortably ashore, as if wait- 
ing for us to take it in tow. 

It was a difficult matter to pull 

our craft around to get hold of 

the canoe ; but we finally 




did so, and would have worked more than one day 
rather than allow the old hunter to meet with a loss. 

When it was made fast alongside once more, and 
we were drifting with the current. Master Bruce went 
on board to learn what portion of his goods had been 
lost during the storm, and to his surprise found that 
only one of the traps was missing, although the flour 
was more or less wet. 

Why the canoe was not overset by the wind, un- 
stable as it was, I could not understand until Master 
Bruce explained that the weight of the flour and the 
traps, resting on the bottom of the boat, must have 
served as ballast to hold it steady, and again, most- 



122 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



like, it went ashore within a short time after having 
been cut adrift. 

I supposed we had quite a journey before us from 
Pittsburgh to Buffalo Creek, and therefore was sur- 
prised when at sunset I asked Master Bruce concern- 
ing the distance, and he told me that within an hour 
we would arrive at the place where we were to take 
on the cattle and horses, for it was Master Rouse's 
intent to carry with us Uncle Daniel's oxen, if the old 
man had not succeeded in load- 
ing them on his friend's craft. 

BUrrALO CREEK 

It was not yet nine o'clock 
when we came within sight of 
the few twinkling lights in 
the settlement of Buf- 
falo, and I could hear 
Isaac Barker's boister- 
ous laugh while we 
were yet half a mile 
away, therefore I knew 
he was indulging 
in his quips and 
jokes. 

It must have been that he was on the lookout for us, 
for before the flatboat was made fast to the shore, he, 




BUFFALO CREEK 123 

with Michael Rouse and Ben Gushing, was calling 
out words of welcome, and asking how the journey 
had progressed. As soon as they were on board, our 
craft having been made fast, we learned without 
surprise that the two ailing horses had died during the 
march. 

A few moments later, as I was about to overhaul 
the bedding in order to make it ready for the chil- 
dren, whose time for going to sleep had already 
passed. Mistress Rouse said to me that she had no 
intention of remaining on board the boat during the 
night. 

The fear that another storm might come up, or that 
we might be half-swamped as at Pittsburgh, caused the 
good woman to shrink from spending the night on the 
boat when it was possible to sleep ashore. Isaac was 
therefore urged to find some shelter, which he speedily 
did by proposing that they take possession of a log 
hut which stood on a point of land near the mouth of 
Buffalo Creek, where he, with Michael and Ben, had 
slept the night before. 

The building had been abandoned, as it seemed, or 
else its owner was making a long journey, perhaps on a 
hunting trip, and would not complain if we made free 
with his property, it being the custom on the frontier 
for travelers to take advantage of such shelter as they 
might find unoccupied. 



124 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



THE MARCH ACROSS THE COUNTRY 

I counted on hearing from Ben Gushing and Isaac 
Barker entertaining stories that night, concerning the 
march across the country, but much to my disappoint- 
ment they had nothing of interest to tell. 

Forced to accommodate their pace to the slowly 
moving oxen, they trudged along hour after hour, start- 
ing well before daylight and continuing as long as it 




was possible to see at night, in order to cover the 
greatest possible distance, with nothing whatsoever 
to break the monotony of the march. 

We were up long before the sun next morning, for 
now it was necessary to take the live stock on board 



. THE MARCH ACROSS THE COUNTRY 125 

our fiatboat. We were forced to embark Uncle Daniel's 
oxen, he having passed Buffalo some time before Isaac 
and Ben arrived there, and when we had all the beasts 
on board we were packed like herring in a box, each 
in his own special place and with very little oppor- 
tunity to move about. 

However, we were nearly at our journey's end; 
the current of the river ran swiftly as compared with 
the stream at Pittsburgh, and there was no longer reason 
to fear that the Indians might do any harm, even if 
there had been cause before. 

In exactly four days from the time of leaving Pitts- 
burgh, we arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum. It 
was well we had come to an end of our journey so soon, 
for ice was already beginning to form in the river, 
and before daylight the Muskingum was frozen quite 
solidly. 

Within an hour after we had moored the fiatboat to 
the bank, Master DevoU came on board. 

Although I have not said that this march of ours 
was attended with danger, and in fact it was not, yet 
there were many chances that one or another of us, if 
not all, might have fallen by the waysrde, owing either 
to the roughness of the way, or the fatigue caused by 
such incessant labor with insufficient lodging, to say 
nothing of the poor food owing to the fact that we had 
not the necessary vessels in which to prepare it. 



126 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



. AT MARIETTA 

Before we had really made the flatboat fast, Mistress 
Devoll and Mistress Rouse were almost at their wits' 
ends with fear, for in the woods and on the sides of the 
hill back of Fort Harmar could be seen hundreds upon 




hundreds of camp fires, and one of those idlers who are 
ever to be found at the riverside of a settlement, told 
us there were no less than three hundred savages en- 
camped there, having come to make a treaty with our 
people on the gth of January. 

Master Devoll laughed at his wife's fears, claiming 
that the savages were as peaceful as lambs, although 
at the time I doubted very much whether he believed 
his own words. 



AT MARIETTA 



127 




However, the women and children did not remain 
aboard our fiatboat, for Master DevoU took them to 
the Mayflower, which was moored near by, 
where were better accommodations for 
sleeping, and in our craft only Ben 
Gushing and I were left on guard. 

We two lads spent a full hour 
that evening, con- 
gratulating our- 
selves upon having 
finished the journey 
and questioning as 
to what we would 
do now we were 
come into this Ohio 
country. 

We had been 
more than eight weeks on the road, advancing all 
the time, one day after another, except the eight and 
forty hours which were spent with Master Hiples in 
that village where live the Dunkards, and, save for the 
death of the two horses, we had come through with 
no greater mishap than the loss of a two-quart tin 
measure and a blanket belonging to Mistress Rouse. 
This was doing remarkably well, when you consider 
that never one of the party, not even the men, had 
undertaken such a journey before. 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO 9 



128 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

In the morning we found the Muskingum River 
frozen from shore to shore, and until spring came the 
stream was never so free of ice that we could have 
propelled our boat, therefore we arrived, as one might 
say, just in the nick of time, for a delay of four and 
twenty hours would have found us frozen in at some 
point above the town, from which it would have been 
necessary to continue on foot. 

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 

Uncle Daniel was on the river bank to meet us next 
morning, before we put the animals ashore, and then, 
very much to my disappointment, he announced that 
it was not his intention to remain long in Marietta. 

It appears that he, with several others, had decided 
to go thirteen miles down the Ohio River, where they 
had already staked out a town, and there build for 
themselves a settlement which should be wholly made 
up of those who had been neighbors in Massachusetts. 
However, he was forced to remain with us at Marietta 
during the winter. 

Master DevoU took his family from the Mayflower 
at an early hour next morning and moved their belong- 
ings to Campus Martius, where he hoped to remain 
until his house was finished, and there did Mistress 
DevoU bid me come, saying I should find a home with 
them until it was possible to settle upon plans for the 



PLANS FOR THE FUTURE 



129 



future, while Master Devoll told me that if I wanted 
to work at fair wages as a farm hand, he would give me 
i employment as soon as spring 

had come. 

It may be that I was a 
simple for not accepting the 
offer which was made in all 
kindness of heart, and yet I 
had a desire to become some- 
thing more than an ordinary 
laborer, so, thanking him 




heartily for his generosity, I went out into the world 
on my own account, having as partner Ben Gushing. 



I30 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



We two young fellows had no idea of what it might 
be possible for us to do. This new country was all so 
different from what we had seen in Massachusetts ; 
the ways of the people would be different now they 
had come so far from home, and we were without 
means of gaining a livelihood, save for our willingness 
to work and the strength of our bodies. 



INSPECTING THE TOWN OF MARIETTA 

However, penniless and undecided though we were, 
there was no intention on our part to force matters, 
and after the flatboat had been unloaded, we set about 




looking the town over, eager 
to see what had been done in so 
short a time, and speculating as 
to what we might do at some 
future day. 

I am free to confess that the 
fortification with the high-sound- 
ing name of Campus Martins was pleasing to look 
upon. It was an imposing building, not such a one 



INSPECTING THE TOWN OF MARIETTA 131 

as you would expect to find in a wild country, and it 
lent to its surroundings a certain sense of security, 
because one could readily understand that it was built 
in a manner to defy the attacks of the savages. 

Outside the palisade, extending in either direction 
along the river bank were ten log cabins, very few of 
which were occupied by their owners, for those who 
had built them had not as yet brought their families 
to Marietta. The streets were laid out in regular 
order, but like those we saw in Harrisburg, they were 
still filled with the stumps of trees, and the only signs 
of highways were the tiny paths looking much like 
sheep tracks as they wound in and out among the 
trees, avoiding the wet places, and leading where the 
way was most easy to travel. 

No one gave any heed to us, and we wandered here 
and there looking into this house or criticizing another 
which was but half finished, until we came to where we 
could see Fort Harmar with the Indian encampment 
behind it. Then we decided upon the next day's 
entertainment, for Ben Gushing insisted that since this 
was our first chance to see a savage, we should spend at 
least a few hours there. 

While it promised a novelty, I was by no means 
easy in mind regarding an inspection of the red men. 
Nevertheless I kept all these fears to myself, 
hoping Ben might give over his excursion when we 



132 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

learned that the ice was not strong enough to bear 
us up. 

Unfortunately, however, it was possible to gain 
Fort Harmar, for the night was very cold, and ice 
formed of a thickness to render traveling on the river 
safe, therefore I was forced to agree to his proposition 
again. 

A TEMPORARY HOME 

Before we could inspect these Indian visitors, it 
was necessary we should make some provision for food 
and shelter, for neither of us wanted to present himself 
to Mistress Rouse or Mistress Devoll as a beggar, 
therefore we set about providing for ourselves a tem- 
porary home. 

I have no doubt but that we would have been allowed 
to take possession of any of the log houses which were 
not occupied; but that would have been much like 
begging a shelter, therefore we proposed to Master 
Devoll that we occupy the flatboat during the time 
that it remained fast in the ice. 

It proved to be a happy idea. He told us that it 
was his intention to allow the boat to remain where 
it was until spring, since he could do no different 
because of the ice, and then it could be used by those 
who proposed to make a settlement fourteen miles 
farther down the Ohio. He also said that we were 



A TEMPORARY HOME 



133 



at liberty to use it as we saw fit during the entire 
winter, providing, of course, that we did no damage 
to the craft; but at the same time advising that, 
instead of trying 



to keep house by 
ourselves, we live 
either with his 
family or Master 
Rouse's. 

He said we 
should find plenty 
of game in the 
woods, and pro- 
posed that we bor- 
row his gun when- 
ever we were in 
need of meat, 
promising to sup- 
ply us with ammunition; but this last we agreed to 
only with the understanding that he keep a strict ac- 
count of what was used, so that when we had earned 
sufficient money with which to cancel the debt, we 
might pay him. 

At this he laughed, declaring that we were indeed 
high and mighty for lads who yet had their way to make 
through the world ; but at the same time clapping us 
heartily on the shoulders as he vowed he liked our 




134 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

spirit and had no doubt but that we should succeed 
in making our way, for there must be ample oppor- 
tunity for willing lads to earn fair wages when spring 
had come. 

BUYING LAND 

Another thing Master DevoU did for which both 
Ben and I have good reason to bless him. He insisted 
that we make a bargain with Colonel Putnam for one 
of the eight-acre lots, agreeing to pay for it within a 
year's time, and inasmuch as the price fixed upon for 
those who had come to settle was the same as that 
made by the government, meaning one dollar an acre, 
it surely seemed as if we could contrive within a twelve- 
month to earn that much money in addition to sup- 
porting ourselves. 

Without loss of time we went to the small building 
which Colonel Putnam called the ''Land Office," and 
there made application for one of the lots as Master 
Devoll had advised. On the instant after Colonel 
Putnam spoke, we understood that Master Devoll 
had not contented himself simply with giving advice, 
but had been to the land ofiice before us, stating who 
we were and what were our intentions, therefore Colonel 
Putnam not only was ready to receive us, but had much 
to say which sounded to my ears like unwon praise. 

''It is such lads as you that we want here in Mari- 



BUYING LAND 



135 



etta/' he said heartily. ''Your records are good, so 
far as I have learned, and it pleases me to set aside an 
eight- acre lot for you. Decide upon any one of those 
which have not already been taken, and I will enter it 
in your names." 

Then he put before us a plan of the town of Marietta, 
whereon each piece of land was marked out, and we, 
instead of going out to look for ourselves that we might 




decide which was the most valuable or desirable, said 
to him that he should put our names down on whatever 
lot he saw fit, whereupon he laughingly did so, and we 
afterward learned that we had been, perhaps, wise in 
leaving to him the selection. 

That night after we had become landowners, as 
you might say, we slept on board the iiatboat with no 
covering save such a shelter as could be made with 



136 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



branches of trees, and because we were not disposed 
to ask either Mistress Rouse or Mistress Devoll to 
lend us blankets, we made a lively blaze in the fireplace, 
laying ourselves down with our feet tow^ard it. 

The night was cold indeed and we suffered not a 

little before morn- 
/'!//' ing; but, as Ben 

said, it was better 
to be a trifle chilly 
than to feel our- 
selves beholden to 
any one, even for 
that with which we 
covered ourselves. 
I insisted that 
our first duty 
should be to get 
together a supply 
of fuel, and in- 
deed there was 
no scarcity about. 
The trees grew so 
near the water's 
edge that we could 
hew them into four-foot lengths, and almost toss them 
into the flatboat. 

It was my proposition that we fill the craft entirely 




VISITING THE SAVAGES 137 

with fuel before doing anything else, but Ben was so 
set upon seeing the Indian encampment, that he 
refused to do more than cut enough to last during one 
night, and when I asked him what he intended to do 
about breakfast, he quietly announced that he would 
rather go hungry one day, than miss the chance of 
seeing those savages with whom we might, at some 
time in the near future, find ourselves fighting for our 
lives. 

I also was eager to see the Indians ; but not to such 
an extent that I would cross over to Fort Harmar with 
an empty stomach. I therefore told him that I should 
first make it my duty to go into the woods in search of 
game. 

VISITING THE SAVAGES 

He, however, was so insistent that we finally agreed 
that the forenoon should be spent in looking at the 
savages, and after that he was to go with me hunting. 

It was odd, when we had come to Fort Harmar, to 
see so many of the brown-skinned people dressed in 
fanciful garb, as if taking part in some comical festival ; 
but there was about them so much which was dis- 
agreeable, that I could not really enjoy the visit. 

I fancied that more than one of them looked in an 
unfriendly manner at us, as if taking offense because 
of our curiosity, and I was willing to postpone any 



138 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



further acquaintance with them until we were some- 
what famihar with their habits and customs. 

Ben was not so eager as he had been, and when noon 
came was ready to accompany me on a hunting trip, 
as had been agreed upon. 

I wish I had the time to tell you all we did during 
that first afternoon, for indeed it was most interesting. 

i 




Roaming 
through a dirty 
Indian encampment 
was not for a single mo- 
ment to be compared with the pleasure of making 
one's way among the huge trees, where game was so 
abundant that a fellow might pick and choose. 

Before we had gone half a mile from the fortification, 
we came upon pigeons and rabbits in what seemed 
countless numbers, and more than once did we get a 



VISITING THE SAVAGES 



139 



glimpse of wild turkeys; but as yet we were not 
sufficiently versed in hunting to be able to kill them. 
Within two ''^:^5;^ hours we had enough meat 
for the coming 
week, and, has- 
tening back to 
our flat- 





boat home, were able before sunset to cut so much 
wood that Ben declared we might live like gentlemen 
of leisure during the next few days. 

''If we are to make for ourselves names of worth 
in this country, there must be no idleness," I said 
half laughingly. ''You and I have decided that 
we will strike out for ourselves, therefore it stands 
us in hand to earn money, and that without loss of 
time." 

"We will begin bright and early to-morrow morn- 
ing," Ben replied cheerily. "You shall go one way 
and I another, each seeking to find some way by which 
we can earn an honest dollar, and each seeing to it 
that whatever business is engaged upon, shall be for 
two, because, as I understand it, you and I are to work 
in one yoke while we remain here in this town of 
Marietta." 



I40 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



CAPTAIN HASKELL S ADVICE 

We did not do exactly as Ben proposed when an- 
other day had come, and it was none other than Cap- 
tain Haskell who prevented us from carrying out our 
plans. 

We met the captain just as we were coming out from 
beneath our shelter, he having strolled that way in 
order to learn how we might be getting on. Seeing 
that we were blue and shivering with the cold as we 
strove to kindle a fire in the stern of the flatboat, he 
said to us that it would be a good idea if we made of 
the craft a comfortable home during the winter months. 
Then he showed us how, with a little labor, we could 
build in the stern of the flatboat a shelter which would 

be quite as good as any hut on 
shore, save that we might be 
lodged in one of the 
best rooms in Cam- 
pus Martins, and 




advised that we set about the work before striving 
to find employment. At the same time he assured us 
there was no doubt whatsoever in his mind but that 



A NEW FRIEND ' 141 

two lads who were willing to work, and who would 
work, might make for themselves a home and a name. 

Having given this advice, he turned squarely about, 
never waiting to see whether we might be willing to 
follow it, and walked rapidly toward the fortification. 

We pondered over his suggestion no longer than it 
might take a man to count twenty, and then began to 
discuss how we had best begin the work, in the mean- 
while warming up what remained of the roasted pigeons 
we had cooked for supper. 

A NEW FRIEND 

While we were thus engaged, the lad Jeremy Salter, 
of whom I have already spoken, came down to the 
shore, curious to see who might be remaining on board 
a flatboat when there was shelter to be had in the town, 
and without waiting for an invitation, joined us at 
breakfast, eating considerably more than his share. 
He told us exactly how we ought to set about making 
the shelter, and what it might be possible for us to do 
in the way of gaining employment. 

At first it nettled me that this boy should presume 
to advise us, for he was considerably younger than I ; 
but before he had done with his suggestions, both 
Ben and I saw that they were not without merit. 

He was the son of one of the Salters who had come 
out from Danvers, and considered himself an old 



142 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

resident of the country because of having been here 
two months or more. It appeared that he was not 
very eager to gain employment for himself, claiming 
that his father was one of those who expected to go 
farther down the river in the spring to make there 
another settlement. 

However, I must say in his favor that he took hold 
with us heartily, borrowing two axes, and advising 
which trees might be felled the easiest, performing 
himself a due share of the labor, with the result that 
before two days had passed, thanks to his assistance 
and advice, we had as good a hut built over the fire- 
place in the stern of the flatboat as one could desire. 

FISHING THROUGH THE ICE 

Then Jeremy Salter told us how we might lay in a 
store of provisions without spending powder and ball. 
His scheme was to go a short distance from the point, 
and there fish through the ice. 

He not only gave this advice but went so far as to 
provide us with fishing tackle, and seemed to enjoy 
himself hugely while aiding in laying up a store of food. 

It was no labor, but rather sport, to catch fish in 
this fashion. We caught them as fastjas it was possible 
to haul in the lines, until when night came and we had 
made a sort of sled with branches of trees, we had as 
much of a load as we cared to drag over the ice. 



FISHING THROUGH THE ICE 



143 



By this time they were all frozen, therefore we 
stacked them up like fuel in the bow of the flatboat, and 
I dare say that had we lived on fish alone, we had in 
the ten hours' fishing enough food for a month. 

During all this time that we were building our hut 
and fishing, Ben Gushing was eager to pay another 
visit to the Indian 
encampment ; but 
Jeremy declared 
that the savages 
were not in the most 
friendly mood, even 
though they had 
come to make a 
treaty, and his 
father had told him 
plainly that he must 
not venture near the 
lodges, lest harm 
might come. 

Such talk as this served to take away Ben's desire 
to see the wild savages in their own camps, and I was 
glad because of it, for instead of spending half a day 
when time was precious, we, with Jeremy's aid, set 
about laying up a greater store of fuel, until the flat- 
boat had a full cargo of wood and fish, therefore we 
need not fear hunger or cold during the winter. 

BENJAMIN OF OHIO lO 




^jfcjT' 



144 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



THE SABBATH IN MARIETTA 

I was glad indeed when the Sabbath came, for I had 
worked hard and the time of rest was what all of us, 
including Jeremy, who was living with us 
rather than in Campus Martins with his 
parents, most needed. 

The greater number of the people as- 
sembled in one of the rooms of Campus 
Martins during the forenoon, where 
prayers were read and some of 
the older men 
talked to us in 
'^^j^ serious fashion. 




The words at that time took even more hold on me 
than those which I had heard from Parson Cutler's 
lips at, home, for we were indeed needing the protec- 



THE SABBATH IN MARIETTA 



145 



tion of God, since there were none of this world who 
could aid if the savages attacked us suddenly. I 
believe that both Ben and I came away from that 
meeting better in heart and with better resolutions 
for the future, than we had ever had before. 

Bright and early on Monday morning Captain 
Haskell made us another visit and commented favor- 
ably upon the shelter we had built, at the same time 
that he looked curiously 



at our stack of fish. 

''I see no reason why 
you lads should not sell 
me half a dozen of these," 
he said, picking out some 
of the finest, and Ben 
Gushing replied promptly 
that he might have __^ 

all he wanted for the 
carrying away. 

The captain refused 
any such offer, saying that he would buy them, other- 
wise he would go without, and declaring that if we 
wished, we might sell to the people inside the fortifica- 
tion no small amount of fish during the winter season, 
for there were plenty who did not feel disposed to 
spend their time on the river while the weather was 
so cold. 




146 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



A REGULAR BUSINESS 

He gave us a shilling for as many as he could carry, 
and bade us follow him to Campus Martius, where 
within an hour we took orders for as many as we had 
in the flatboat, at prices much the same as that paid 
by the captain, and straightway without our seeking 
it, there came to us a means of earning money suffi- 
cient to provide ourselves with ammunition for hunt- 
ing. 

You would not have the patience to read all I could 
write about our work during that winter. 

There was never man nor woman in Campus Martius 
who could come out and beckon us, but that we 

were ready to fur- 
nish him or her 
with as much fish 
as was wanted, until 
we had gathered in 
no less than seven 
dollars and three 
shillings, by work- 
ing in a way which 
was much like sport. 
Of this amount we 
spent a little more than one half to purchase a store of 
powder and lead, for it was our intention to add the 
business of hunting to that of fishing. 




A VISIT FROM THE SAVAGES 147 

Thanks to Jeremy Salter, we borrowed from a kind 
man who had come out with Colonel Sproat two 
muskets, with the understanding that if at any time 
before spring we were ready to pay twelve dollars for 
each, they might become our property. 

From this time on we fished when the weather was 
too stormy for successful hunting, and roamed the 
woods during pleasant days, coming back to our flat- 
boat home each night literally laden with game or 
fish; and although any man in Marietta could have 
done the same, we had no difficulty in selling it all. 

Of the ceremony of making the treaty with the 
Indians we saw nothing, and for the very good reason 
that we could not afford to spend the time. 

A VISIT FROM THE SAVAGES 

Just then it seemed as if every man in the settlement 
was eager to know what might be going on around Fort 
Harmar, and therefore the demands upon us hunters 
increased to such an extent that we could hardly 
supply the food which was desired. 

In addition to the fact that we were unable to be 
present during the treaty making, save at the price of 
losing the chance to earn considerable money, Ben 
Gushing had lost all desire to see the savages at close 
quarters. 

One afternoon just before sunset, when we had 



148 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



come in from fishing, two Delaware braves came over 
to our flatboat and made themselves very much at 
home, without any invitation. In fact, they carried 
matters with a high hand, as if having the right to do 
as they pleased, and w^hen Ben made a sLout protest 
against their eating the food intended for our own 
supper, one of them behaved in such a threatening 
manner that for a moment I thoroughly believed he 




was about to strike the lad down, therefore I hastily 
caught up one of the axes, believing I should be called 
upon to fight for my life. 

When the Indians had eaten until it was impos- 
sible to eat more, they having literally forced us to 
cook for them, the two stalked away, and from that 



BUILDING A HOME 



149 



time forth Ben never said anything regarding a desire 
to visit the encampment. 

We hunted or fished during every moment of 
daylight while the treaty making was going on, and 
when it had come to an end we had so man}^ dollars in 
our possession as satisfied us fully for having failed 
to witness the ceremony. 

BUILDING A HOME 

It was at this time, when we were so prosperous, that 
Jeremy Salter declared we ought to set aside a certain 




day in each week for the work of 
building a house for ourselves on 
the eight-acre lot, which we now 
knew could be paid for at any 
time, since we had more than suf- 
ficient money in our possession. 
Thus, thanks to Jeremy, we set 
about building our home, working whenever the de- 
mand for game or fish was light, or when it stormed so 
furiously that we could not well go on the river or in 



150 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

the woods. When spring came and the snow had 
disappeared, we had as solidly built a cabin as could be 
found anywhere in Marietta outside Campus Martius. 

Thus far we had accomplished a portion of our 
purpose. The people had come to understand that 
if we promised to provide them with a certain kind of 
game or fish, the promise would be kept to the letter. 
I am saying this not to praise myself, but simply to 
show we were making a name for ourselves as lads who 
told the truth, and kept strictly to their bargain. 

As I looked at the matter, this was of greatest value 
to us. We had set about gaining a good reputation, 
and verily we had begun aright, though only in small 
matters. It remained to show whether we were of 
such stuff as settlers in a wild country should be made. 

Before the first day of March we had paid for our 
eight-acre lot, had built a cabin of two rooms, in which 
was stored as much frozen game and fish as would 
keep sweet until warm weather came, and, in addi- 
tion, had nineteen dollars which we could call our own. 

A GREAT PROJECT 

One day, when the rain came down in torrents, and we 
were not inclined either to fish or hunt. Captain Haskell 
came to make a friendly call, and, in no spirit of curi- 
osity, but rather because of the interest which he had 
evidently taken in us, asked how we were progressing. 



A GREAT PROJECT 



151 



Without hesitation I told him exactly how we stood 
in the world, whereupon he praised us highly, and then 
proposed a scheme which fairly caused me to hold my 
breath in amazement, for it did not seem possible we 
could venture so far as his plan led. 

His idea was that we build a water mill by buying 
from himself and Master Rouse the flatboat in which 




we were still Hving and by putting alongside of it 
a second one, the two to be fastened side by side 
in such a manner that a water wheel could be 
worked between them, and the double craft anchored 
in the current, where sufficient power could be had to 
drive the mill. 

As to the stones for grinding and such small pieces 
of machinery as we might need, he figured tl;iat we 



152 BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

could buy them either in Pittsburgh or from some 
craft which came up the river, and when I asked him 
how far he thought our store of money would go in 
such a project, he laughingly replied that Uncle Daniel 
and he would lend us a sufficient amount to pay for all 
we might need, and take from us in return three- 
quarters of the entire earnings until the debt, with 
interest, had been canceled. 

When Ben Gushing asked if he believed we should 
find business enough to warrant the undertaking, he 
replied : — 

''There are about two hundred people here now 
and twice as many coming from Massachusetts during 
the summer. Now, since there is no mill here and all 
the corn must be ground by hand, I am asking whether 
you do not believe that by harvest time a single mill 
such as Uncle Daniel and I propose you shall build, 
will be kept running during every hour of daylight?" 

THE TWO MILLERS 

We discussed the matter earnestly, as you may well 
suppose, and Uncle Daniel, coming aboard before we 
had finished the conversation, did his share of arguing. 
Before nightfall it was settled that on the following 
morning we should begin work on a second flatboat, 
and also repair the old craft in which we had come 
down from Sumrill's Ferry. 



THE SAVAGES ON THE WARPATH 153 

And all this we did, working with a hearty will far 
into each night, because it was possible to see before 
us a way of getting on in the world faster than we had 
ever dared to dream, and you may be sure we wasted 
no minute of daylight. 

We had expected to cultivate our eight acres, and, 
in fact, when spring came we did put in a crop of corn ; 
but the making of the mill and providing ourselves with 
food occupied so much of our time that we could not 
well afford to spend many hours as farmers, more 
particularly since both Uncle Daniel and Captain 
Haskell insisted that as soon as the mill was in work- 
ing order we could earn double or treble as much as it 
would be possible to get from the ground. 

And it all came about as these two good friends of 
ours predicted. The mill was a success from the first 
day we were ready to turn the wheel, and has con- 
tinued so until now, when we are in sorest trouble. 

THE SAVAGES ON THE WARPATH 

From the time of our coming into, this Ohio country, 
Marietta had steadily increased in size, the people 
coming, as it seemed to me, from every part of the 
eastern colonies, and just when Ben and I were con- 
gratulating each other that our lines had been cast in 
peaceful, pleasant places, even though we were settled 
in the wilderness, the Indians began their bloody work 



154 



BENJAMIN OF OHIO 



which we now fear may result in wiping out this settle- 
ment. 

The treaty which had been made by the savages 
just after we arrived was kept only by the white men. 
Hardly more than two weeks ago news came that 
Captain King had been killed at that settlement to 




which Uncle Daniel went in the spring, while four 
others were slain in the forest, and one taken prisoner. 

The savages are in arms against us. We have been 
forced to come into Campus Martins for safety ; work 
of all kinds has been abandoned ; our mill is moored far 
up the Muskingum River, where we have a faint hope 
it may escape destruction. 

Although it may be that within the next four and 
twenty hours both Ben and I will have fallen beneath 



THE SAVAGES ON THE WARPATH 155 

the tomahawk, yet must I bear witness that God has 
been good to us indeed. He has permitted two lads 
so to make their way in the world with nothing save 
their own hands as stock in trade, that now, as I 
have good reason for believing, we are counted among 
the responsible citizens of the town. 

And of this it seems to me I had good proof no longer 
ago than yesterday, when I heard General Putnam 
say while he and some other of the men were discuss- 
ing the possibilities of an Indian war: — 

''If evidence were needed that it is well for young, 
wilhng workers to come into the wilderness, then I 
would point out to you that lad who journeyed with 
Mistress Devoll, and who, with his comrade, has laid 
up more than a fair share of this world's goods by 
unceasing work and unswerving honesty. He has done 
no more than many another might have done ; but it 
has pleased me to watch the lad, and when I think of 
him it is always as our cheery-faced, upright miller, 
Benjamin of Ohio.'' 



BOOKS CONSULTED IN WRITING 
BENJAMIN OF OHIO 

Baldwin, James : Conquest of the Old Northwest. American 

Book Company. 
BuEL, Miss Rowena : Memoirs of Rufus Putnam, Houghton 

Mifflin Company 
Drake, Samuel Adams : Making of the Ohio Valley States. 

Charles Scribner's Sons. 
Earle, Alice Morse: Home Life in Colonial Days. The 

Macmillan Company. 
Ellet, Mrs. : Pioneer Women of the West. John C. Winston 

Company. 
Elson, Henry William: History of the United States. The 

Macmillan Company. 
Harper's Magazine: Vol 71, p. 552. 
Hildreth, S. P, : Pioneer History. H, W. Derby & Co. 
Hinsdale, B A. : The Old Northwest. Silver, Burdett & Co. 
HowELLS, William Dean ; Stories of Ohio. American Book 

Company 
Jones, N, E : Squirrel Hunters of Ohio. Robert Clarke Com- 
pany. 
MowRY, William A. : American Pioneers. Silver, Burdett 

& Co. 
Powell, Lyman P. Historic Towns of Western States. G. P. 

Putnam's Sons. 
Roosevelt, Theodore ; Winning of the West. G. P. Putnam's 

Sons. 
Thwaite, Reuben Gold: Early Western Travels (Buttrick). 
, Arthur H. Clarke Company. 

V Walker, Charles M : History of Athens County, Ohio. 

Robert Clarke Company. 

157 



NOV 12 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 571 658 5 



jmwt 


^ ^ 


l^^^^l 




'ffl^^^^^^^^^^H 


nii llur^^^^^^^'^^^^jltlj W 


^ ^^^I^^^^^^^H 


B^^^ra 


9^1 




A 


^ 


^1 




lA-LLMSOMKilA 


E 


M 




H UntW IHMW 


• 





